Other treatments
Other treatments include:
Bone marrow transplants
For the treatment of cancers of the bone marrow, such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. Chemotherapy is given to destroy the patient’s bone marrow. Healthy bone marrow, taken from a donor, is then given to the patient
Peripheral blood stem cell transplants
Stem cells collected from the patient’s blood are removed, stored and then reintroduced into the bloodstream.
Brachytherapy
A form of radiotherapy which uses permanent implants of radioactive seeds. It is only available in a limited number of centres in the UK, and can be used to treat cancer of the prostate, oesophagus, cervix, uterus (womb) and vaginal cancers.
Biological or immunotherapy
These therapies use substances that occur naturally in the body to destroy cancer cells.
There are several types of treatment including monoclonal antibodies, cancer growth inhibitors, vaccines and gene therapy. Kidney cancer, malignant melanoma, multiple myeloma, carcinoid tumours and some types of lymphoma and leukaemia can be treated with immunotherapy.
Specialised Treatments
There are several specialised treatments for particular types of cancers, and new treatments currently being researched. Your doctors will be able to provide you with more details of these.