Systemic Therapy
At Providence, our top priority is to help you regain control of your life and well-being. Our personalized and comprehensive systemic cancer treatments do just that.
Often used to treat breast cancer, systemic therapies are treatments that use medication to get rid of cancer cells. Systemic therapies include hormonal, molecular and chemotherapy.
Systemic therapies are administered at different stages of cancer treatment; before, during and after. These different approaches are known as neoadjuvant, concurrent and adjuvant therapy, respectively.
The goal of systemic therapy is to reduce tumor size before removal, or to eliminate lingering cancer cells after removal.
Side effects of systemic therapy vary depending on the type of drug and dosage. These include:
- Nausea/vomiting
- Low blood count
- Tingling of the fingers and toes (neuropathy)
- Weakening of heart muscles
- Adverse effects on healthy tissue