Cancer treatment myths: Any truth to these common beliefs?

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Research advances have helped make cancer treatments work better and have fewer side effects. Yet some ideas about cancer treatment that aren’t true are still being talked about. Here’s a look at common misconceptions about cancer treatment that can help you learn the truth.

Truth: There’s no scientific proof that a positive attitude helps your cancer treatment work better or raises your chance of a cure.

What a positive attitude can do is help you have a better quality of life during cancer treatment and after. You may be more likely to stay active, stay close to family and friends, and continue social activities. These actions may raise your feelings of well-being and help you find the strength to deal with your cancer.

Truth: Finding the cure for cancer is very complicated. In some ways, it’s harder than figuring out the engineering and physics needed to go to space.

Cancer includes a large group of diseases. Each person’s cancer could have many possible causes. Even with more information about cancer diagnosis and treatment, healthcare professionals still have a lot to learn about why cells become cancer cells and why some people who have cancer do better than others.

Also, cancer cells can change even after someone is diagnosed with cancer. This may lead to chemotherapy medicines or radiation treatments no longer working on cancer cells after a while, even if the medicines did seem to work at first.

Truth: Your healthcare professional and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are working for you and other people with cancer. As such, they make your safety their primary concern. The FDA must approve new medicines before they can be given to people who aren’t getting medicines as part of a clinical trial.

It takes time to conduct scientific studies to figure out how safe cancer treatments are and how well they work. This can make it seem like new treatments are being blocked. But in reality, it’s because researchers want to be sure that new treatments work well and don’t cause harm.

Truth: Although regular medical care can increase the ability to detect cancer early, it can’t guarantee it. Cancer is a complicated condition, and there’s no sure way to spot every type of cancer early.

But routine screening has been linked to lowering deaths from cancers of the prostate, cervix, breast, lung and colon.

Truth: Most people who have cancer are treated on an outpatient basis in their home communities.

At times it may be helpful to travel to a specialty medical center for treatment. But often, healthcare professionals at specialty centers can work with those in your hometown so that you can be with your family and friends.

Sometimes, people may want to take time away from work to focus on their health. Many times it is possible to go back to work or keep working.

A lot of research has gone into making it easier for people to continue living their lives as usual during their cancer treatment. For example, medicines are now available to help better manage nausea. Healthcare professionals also advise staying active. The result is that you’re often able to keep up some of your routine during your treatment.

Truth: Some cancers never cause pain.

For people who do experience cancer pain, especially people who have cancer that has spread, healthcare professionals have become more aware of the need to manage the pain and have learned better ways to manage it. It’s not always possible to get rid of pain. But healthcare professionals can help manage the pain so that it has less of an impact on a person’s daily life.

Truth: For most types of cancer, there’s no conclusive evidence that a needle biopsy, a procedure used to diagnose many types of cancer, causes cancer cells to spread.

But there are times when a biopsy could make cancer cells spread. Healthcare professionals know this is true for certain kinds of cancer. For example, a needle biopsy usually isn’t used in diagnosing testicular cancer. Instead, if a healthcare professional suspects testicular cancer, they may suggest surgery to remove the testicle.

Truth: There is no evidence that suggests surgery can cause cancer to spread. Avoid delaying or refusing treatment because of this myth. Surgically removing cancer is often the first and most important treatment.

Some people may believe this myth because they feel worse when recovering from surgery than they did before the surgery.

Truth: Your healthcare professional tailors your treatment to you. What treatment you receive depends on where your cancer is, whether or how much it has spread, how it’s affecting your body functions, your general health, and other factors.

More and more, healthcare professionals are using genetic testing to help guide treatments. They may look at how specific changes in your cancer cells could affect your treatment. Also, cancer treatments may depend on the genes that you’re born with. Some genes may show that your body reacts to certain chemotherapy treatments and medicines differently than someone else might.

Truth: It’s up to you to decide whether you want to treat your cancer. You can decide this after talking to your healthcare professional and learning about your options.

People in certain situations may decide not to treat their cancer. Some of these situations may include:

• A slow-growing cancer. Some people who have cancer might not have any signs or symptoms. Lab tests might suggest that the cancer is growing very slowly. So people might choose to wait and watch the cancer. If it suddenly starts growing more quickly, treatment may be an option.
• Other medical conditions. If you have other health conditions, you may choose not to treat your cancer. Maybe this is because the cancer may not be the biggest threat to your health. This may be true if your cancer isn’t growing very fast.
• An advanced cancer. Sometimes the effects of treatment may be worse than the possible benefits of treating your cancer. But that doesn’t mean your healthcare professional will abandon you. Your healthcare professional can still provide comfort measures, such as pain relief.