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Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy at Stanford
Unlike treatments such as surgery or radiation, chemotherapy destroys cancerous cells throughout the body. It remains essential for many patients, even as we incorporate therapies that attack specific targets or harness your immune system.
Newer chemotherapy drugs are also more effective and less burdensome, with side effects often mild and manageable. We offer the full support and sophisticated care you need, with top doctors who know which approach will help you most.
We use chemotherapy for several purposes, always within an individualized treatment plan created specifically for you. While your doctor will thoroughly explain the reasons for recommending chemotherapy, potential goals include:
- Curing the cancer on its own
- Shrinking a tumor to make other treatments like surgery or radiation possible (neoadjuvant therapy)
- Destroying any remaining cancerous cells after surgery or radiation (adjuvant therapy)
- Slowing the cancer’s growth or relieving symptoms
- Treating cancer that has returned (recurred) or spread (metastasized)
Our doctors also use and develop other, emerging drug therapies, providing the best options for our patients. Sometimes they give these therapies instead of chemotherapy, sometimes they build off the treatment foundation already established and sometimes they give the two in combination.
These therapies include:
- Targeted therapies focus on specific tumor characteristics. We often recommend this treatment when genetic analysis reveals a particular tumor mutation. Learn more about targeted therapy.
- Immunotherapies use your body’s own immune system to fight cancer. Learn more about immunotherapy.
Chemotherapy for Cancer: Why Choose Stanford
We only turn to chemotherapy after careful consideration, never rushing patients into making a decision. And we use drugs backed by extensive research and safety testing, for all major types of cancer and many rare ones.
Our program offers:
- Top expertise: Our medical oncologists are leaders in their field, recognized around the country and world. The size of our staff means members can specialize in just one of two body areas. They understand the subtleties involved in choosing the right drugs and doses. They also work closely with Stanford experts providing additional therapies, for completely coordinated care. Find a medical oncologist.
- Genetic advances: We now analyze many tumors for genetic mutations, helping guide care. Examples include:
- Solid Tumor Actionable Mutation Panel (STAMP): Created by Stanford, STAMP tests a wide panel of genes and uses next-generation sequencing to look for mutations we can potentially target. Possible mutations include EGFR and ALK in lung cancer and RAS and BRAF for metastatic colorectal cancer.
- Oncotype DX: This test can tell us whether certain breast cancers can benefit from chemotherapy.
If patients receive the chemotherapy agent 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and then experience strong side effects, we can also look at their own genes for a mutation that makes it harder for them to tolerate the drug.
- Full support: We offer a full range of services during and after your chemotherapy, including a class to prepare you for treatment, emotional support for you and your family, and tools for preventing and managing side effects. (Learn more about side effects, or the services offered through our Cancer Center Patient and Family Resource Guide.) A doctor or nurse is also available 24-7 to speak by phone or in person at our Cancer Center.
- Convenience and comfort: We offer the choice of several state-of-the-art facilities for your care. Learn more about:
- Our main Cancer Center in Palo Alto and our Infusion Treatment Area
- Our Redwood City Infusion Therapy Center (outpatient only)
- Our South Bay Cancer Center in San Jose (outpatient only)
Chemotherapy: Research and Clinical Trials
Our doctors participate in and create clinical trials to develop new chemotherapy agents and drug combinations and identify the best doses, sequences and schedules. (Find cancer clinical trials at Stanford, including immunotherapy — treatments that harness the immune system.)
While trial availability varies, recent efforts in chemotherapy include:
- Better ways to treat triple-negative breast cancer, a particularly challenging disease.
- The optimal way to combine chemotherapy with surgery and radiation, when needed. Learn more about radiation therapy at Stanford.
- Bone marrow transplants that allow more powerful doses of chemotherapy. Learn more about our Blood and Marrow Transplant Program.
(DEACTIVATED)Chemotherapy
Our renowned medical oncologists focus on just one or two body parts, providing the expertise you need when chemotherapy is a possibility.
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chemotherapy for cancer
chemotherapy at Stanford