The Multimodality Approach to Cancer Therapy

Abstract

The individual methods of treatment have now been described. However, it is unusual nowadays for a single method to be employed in the treatment of any particular tumour. Rather, there is increasing use of two or more modalities of cancer therapy in any one patient. For some tumours there is a well-defined sequence of treatments, e.g. surgery — radiotherapy — chemotherapy. For other cancers, treatments are given in a less organised way, a change of treatment being made when a clinically significant event occurs, e.g. the development of metastatic disease. One aim of cancer therapy should be to define the use and timing of each modality in the treatment of individual cancers, and to combine these in a rational way. Thus the concept of treatment planning may be introduced; a concept that implies a knowledge of the natural history of cancer, the mode of spread in individual tumours, and the values and limitations of each form of therapy.