A cancer diagnosis can make you feel small—and the world of care feel impossibly large. Understanding your options can bring that world within reach.
From established oncology treatments to integrative therapies, supportive care and emerging approaches used around the world, this library helps you understand the language of your options. Learn what to search, compare what clinics report and bring thoughtful questions to your oncologist. No guide can promise an outcome—but good information can help you feel less lost, more prepared and more hopeful about the next conversation.
Approaches that people may encounter while exploring additional options.
Every treatment guide is listed here. Select any name to open its guide, or use the filters below to narrow the detailed cards.
Showing: Emerging approaches
Limited established applications; many personalized vaccines remain investigational
Cancer treatment vaccines aim to train an immune response against features of an existing cancer. They differ from preventive vaccines, such as HPV vaccination, which reduce the risk of certain cancers before they develop. An established treatment example is sipuleucel-T…
Read the guideEstablished for specific metal disorders; general anticancer detoxification is unproven
Chelation uses medicines that bind certain metals so the body can remove them. It has legitimate medical uses for specific, documented metal-related conditions under specialist supervision. Products marketed for home use and broad disease claims can be particularly misleading. Before…
Read the guideUnproven practice with documented serious harms
Coffee enemas introduce coffee into the rectum and are promoted in some alternative cancer or detoxification programs. They are not established cancer treatments, and the claim that they remove cancer-related toxins or improve liver function lacks supporting clinical evidence. A…
Read the guideInvestigational supplement use; cancer-control benefit is unproven
Curcumin is one of the compounds found in turmeric. Concentrated supplements are different from using turmeric as a cooking spice, and products vary in formulation and absorption. Researchers have investigated curcumin for cancer-related symptoms and biological effects, but it is…
Read the guideLocal treatment combining electric pulses with chemotherapy
Electrochemotherapy applies brief electric pulses to a tumor after a chemotherapy drug is given, temporarily making cell membranes more permeable to the drug. It is mainly used in some countries for accessible skin or superficial tumors and differs from irreversible…
Read the guideInvestigational nutrition strategy during cancer treatment
Fasting approaches range from limiting eating to certain hours to periods of substantial food restriction. A fasting-mimicking diet uses a specified reduced-food plan rather than complete abstinence. These methods are being studied during cancer treatment, but they are not established…
Read the guideUnproven reduced-dose chemotherapy approach with hypoglycemia risk
Insulin potentiation therapy combines insulin with chemotherapy, typically using lower chemotherapy doses than a conventional regimen. Proponents claim insulin makes cancer cells take up more treatment. That premise has not been established as a reliable way to preserve cancer control…
Read the guideInvestigational anticancer use of an antimalarial medicine
Artesunate is a medicine derived from the artemisinin drug family and is used intravenously for severe malaria. Researchers have also investigated whether it could have a role against cancer. The established malaria indication does not demonstrate that cancer infusions are…
Read the guideInvestigational approach in cancer care
Intravenous vitamin C delivers vitamin C directly into a vein and produces higher blood concentrations than oral intake. Researchers have studied it alone and alongside cancer medicines, including possible effects on symptoms and treatment tolerance. It is not FDA-approved as…
Read the guideInvestigational dietary approach; not an established cancer treatment
A ketogenic diet sharply limits carbohydrate intake and changes the balance of fats and other nutrients so the body produces more ketones. Researchers are studying selected dietary approaches alongside cancer treatment, but a ketogenic diet has not been established as…
Read the guideUnproven cancer treatment with cyanide-poisoning risk
Laetrile and amygdalin are related products marketed as alternative cancer treatments. Amygdalin occurs in some fruit pits and other plants and can release cyanide in the body. The marketing name vitamin B17 is misleading: it is not an established vitamin…
Read the guideMinimally invasive laser ablation for selected brain lesions
LITT places a thin laser probe into a target and uses heat, commonly monitored with MRI temperature imaging, to destroy planned tissue. In oncology it is most often considered for selected primary or metastatic brain tumors, radiation necrosis, or lesions…
Read the guideOff-label investigational use; anticancer benefit is unproven
Low-dose naltrexone refers to using an opioid-blocking medicine in a regimen different from its established use for alcohol or opioid dependence. It is sometimes promoted for pain, inflammatory conditions or immune support, including in cancer programs. These are separate claims…
Read the guideProduct-specific adjunct research; commercial products are not interchangeable
Medicinal mushroom products include extracts and compounds from several species. They differ from each other and from mushrooms eaten as food. Some standardized products have been studied alongside conventional cancer treatment, while many retail blends make broader immune or anticancer…
Read the guideUmbrella term; evaluate each component and cancer claim separately
Metabolic therapy is not one standardized cancer treatment. The term can describe legitimate research on cancer-cell metabolism, dietary experiments or commercial programs combining supplements, medicines and restrictive diets. Some programs also include detoxification practices. These approaches do not share a…
Read the guideInvestigational complementary treatment; cancer-control benefit is unproven
Mistletoe therapy uses extracts of a plant that grows on trees. Some integrative cancer practices offer injections alongside conventional treatment, often with the aim of improving wellbeing or treatment tolerance. Preparations and routes differ, so findings about one extract cannot…
Read the guideDevice-specific investigational approach; evidence depends on cancer and regimen
Oncothermia commonly refers to modulated electro-hyperthermia, a technique using radiofrequency energy and specialized equipment. It is one approach within a wider family of heat-based treatments. Its marketing language and proposed biological effects do not make it interchangeable with every established…
Read the guideUnproven cancer intervention with route-dependent safety risks
Ozone therapy is a broad label for procedures involving a highly reactive form of oxygen. Clinics may describe treating blood outside the body before returning it, or other forms of exposure. These procedures differ from prescribed oxygen and hyperbaric oxygen…
Read the guideInvestigational regional chemotherapy for cancers spread in the abdomen
PIPAC delivers chemotherapy as a pressurized aerosol into the abdominal cavity during laparoscopy. Researchers are studying it for peritoneal metastases from ovarian, colorectal, stomach, pancreatic, and other cancers. It is different from HIPEC and standard intravenous chemotherapy.
Read the guideEmerging nonthermal local ablation for selected soft-tissue and lung tumors, with some uses still being evaluated in clinical studies
Pulsed electric field ablation uses very short, high-voltage electrical pulses to damage cell membranes and destroy a planned area of soft tissue without relying primarily on heat or freezing. Cancer programs may deliver it through a needle placed through the…
Read the guideDrug repurposing means investigating a medicine for a purpose different from the one for which it was originally developed. Cancer researchers study familiar medicines because existing knowledge may help identify new uses. Off-label prescribing also covers many different situations, from…
Read the guideInvestigational systemic heating; distinct from local or regional hyperthermia
Whole-body hyperthermia raises core body temperature using specialized heating equipment. It is different from heating a particular tumor, a limb or chemotherapy circulated within an abdominal cavity. Researchers have studied systemic heating alongside other cancer treatments, but evidence for one…
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These guides organize publicly available and clinic-provided information. Services and availability can change, so confirm current details directly with the clinic.
