Supportive treatments

There are a number of treatment options that may be appropriate to help support a patient through their cancer treatment and afterwards. These include a range of strong anti sickness medication that can be used for chemotherapy or radiotherapy. For patients with bone secondaries, there are bone strengthening drugs such as bisphosphonates or denosumab that may be appropriate and can help to reduce the effects of these secondaries, for example reducing pain. They can also be used in the preventative setting, to try to stop breast cancer secondaries occurring.

In more general terms, there are other specialists that can be very helpful in the overall care of cancer patients. Dietitians are available to give advice and support regarding nutrition. For symptoms that are more difficult to control, the palliative care team (which is an active part of the overall cancer team in the Royal Cornwall Hospital) have specialist knowledge and can be invaluable in helping to control cancer symptoms, as well as providing support to the patient and family.