Understanding - Targeted Therapy - What is targeted therapy? How targeted therapy works

What is targeted therapy? Targeted therapy is a drug treatment that targets specific features of cancer cells to stop the cancer growing and spreading. [...] May be given with or without conventional treatment Targeted therapy may kill the cancer cells or slow their growth, causing the signs and symptoms of * The chance of having cancer cells with a suitable target varies depending on the type of cancer. [...] Targeted therapy may be used: • before surgery to reduce the size of a cancer (neoadjuvant therapy) How is targeted therapy different • after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer to chemotherapy? cells (adjuvant therapy) • to treat cancer after initial treatments if the Chemotherapy drugs affect all cells that multiply cancer has come back or hasn’t responded quickly. [...] Why it’s important to report side effects In some cases, your treatment team will reduce the dose of the targeted therapy drug to see if that While you are having targeted therapy, your treatment helps ease the side effects. [...] BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations (acquired) ovarian Testing for targeted therapy EGFR mutations lung To find out if the cancer contains a gene change that may respond to a particular targeted therapy drug, your IDH mutations brain, bile duct doctor will take a sample from the cancer and send it to a laboratory for testing.