For a long time, cancer was considered an “incurable” disease. However, with the advancement of science and technology, there are more and more treatment methods, more and more cases are detected at an early stage, and the effectiveness of treatment is improving. Currently, the following methods are commonly used to treat cancer: Surgery Except for hematological malignancies such as leukemia and lymphoma, all other malignant tumors, including cancer and sarcoma, are tumors with one or more tangible entities, so they can also be called solid tumors. Since solid tumors exist, it is possible to remove them through surgery. Since the results of other treatments are not yet very satisfactory, surgical resection is still the preferred treatment option for solid tumors and may offer the patient hope for a cure. Since cancerous tissues have the potential to invade into the surrounding area and spread and metastasize along the lymphatic vessels, the principle of surgical resection of malignant tumors is: “Remove the tumor in its entirety with the tumor-bearing organs and the lymph nodes in the drainage area.” Of course, one kidney can be removed and one breast can be completely removed. But for most organs, only a portion can be removed. How much is this “part”? In the past, it was advocated to cut as much as possible in order to be complete; however, in recent years, it is believed that more organs should be preserved and the right amount of organs should be removed, taking into account the quality of life of the patient after surgery. As for the lymph nodes in the drainage area, we used to advocate the removal of large blocks of lymph nodes in order to ensure the effect of radical resection. However, in recent years, there is also a tendency to reduce the number of lymph nodes removed. For example, during breast cancer surgery, the first lymph node that usually metastasizes from breast cancer, the so-called anterior lymph node, can be identified and examined pathologically first, and if there is no metastasis from cancer, it can be inferred that the subsequent lymph nodes have not yet metastasized from cancer, and then the removal of large lymph nodes in the axilla can be avoided. This is a great benefit to maintaining arm mobility. From making the surgery large to making it small in order to protect the patient’s organ function and improve the quality of life after surgery is an advancement of science and humanism. Of course, this is also an advancement in diagnostic technology. Sometimes, although the cancer cannot be completely removed, the obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract and biliary tract caused by the blockage or compression of the cancerous tissue can be bypassed to re-communicate with the intestine through the gastrointestinal tract or biliary tract, so that the patient can eat or the jaundice can subside, which is called palliative surgery and is very desirable to relieve the disease and prolong the patient’s life. Of course, there are always certain risks associated with surgery. Most of the patients are middle-aged and elderly, and often have other comorbidities or potential organ dysfunction, which makes the surgery risky. However, surgical resection may bring the patient hope for a radical cure, so it is still advisable to actively pursue it. However, surgery cannot guarantee the cure of cancer, so other treatments should be given after surgery to ensure the efficacy of surgery. Radiation therapy Radiation therapy is a method of killing cancer cells by using radiation. The energy of radiation enters the tumor cells and cuts the long strand of DNA, which is the genetic material in the nucleus of cancer cells that dominates the division and proliferation of cancer cells and maintains their malignant behavior, into fragments, causing them to lose their ability to divide and proliferate and gradually die. The malignant tumors such as nasopharyngeal cancer, cervical cancer and lymphoma are very sensitive to radiation therapy and have very good efficacy. In recent years, due to the development and application of new types of radiation, such as electron beam, proton and photon, the efficacy of radiation therapy for the same deep tumor has been greatly improved; due to the improvement of radiation therapy equipment, such as conformal radiotherapy, the radiation can be more accurately focused on the tumor tissue and reduce the damage to the surrounding tissues, so that the dose can be significantly increased and the efficacy can be greatly improved. In addition to the treatment of primary lesions, radiotherapy is often used for the local treatment of metastases such as lymph nodes, bone and brain metastases, which often have better palliative effects such as relieving symptoms and prolonging life. Radiation therapy may produce toxic side effects such as nausea, vomiting and leukopenia when the dose reaches a certain level, and should be treated accordingly. Chemotherapy The full name of chemotherapy is chemical anticancer drug therapy, or chemotherapy for short. Chemotherapy was developed in the 1940s and has become an important tool in anti-tumor treatment after nearly 60 years of development. Some tumors can go into remission to varying degrees after chemotherapy, and patients’ lives can be prolonged. Several malignant tumors such as acute lymphoid leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Burkitt’s lymphoma, and choriocapillary epithelial carcinoma can even be cured by chemotherapy. In recent years, new chemotherapeutic drugs have been introduced, and several drug combination regimens have been introduced, and the efficacy of chemotherapy for various solid tumors has been improving. In particular, the efficacy of local chemotherapy via arterial catheter infusion has been greatly improved due to the significantly higher local drug concentration in tumors. The use of “pro-tumor” substances in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs to bring chemotherapeutic drugs into the tumor has also been studied recently. Drugs that promote the differentiation of tumor cells into benign cells have also been studied and have shown encouraging results in the treatment of certain types of leukemia. Chemotherapy focusing on the formation of neovascularization to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis, and chemotherapy aimed at promoting apoptosis and accelerating tumor shrinkage are also being investigated. Bone marrow stem cell transplantation, as an important supportive measure of anticancer chemotherapy, is being carried out gradually. It is believed that chemotherapy will play an increasingly important role in cancer treatment. Chemotherapy has certain toxic side effects, common gastrointestinal reactions include: nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, etc.; suppression of hematopoietic function and decrease of white blood cells, platelet reduction and even bone marrow failure, etc.; hair loss, phlebitis, etc. are also common toxic side effects. Some chemotherapy drugs also cause certain damage to the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. Therefore, the application of chemotherapy should be considered first, and during chemotherapy should be carefully observed and closely followed up, timely adjustment of dose, supportive treatment and even timely discontinuation of drugs is essential. Biological therapy Biological therapy, formerly known as immunotherapy, is a general term for the use of anti-cancer cells, anti-cancer factors produced by cells, and vaccine therapy to improve the immunity of patients against cancer. Unlike radiotherapy and chemotherapy, this type of treatment is based on improving the patient’s anti-cancer immunity to achieve the purpose of anti-cancer treatment, and generally has less toxic side effects. It is often used after surgery and radiotherapy to restore and improve the patient’s immune function to consolidate the therapeutic effect, or as part of comprehensive cancer treatment. At present, it is difficult to expect good results from a single application of biologic therapy. The commonly used cytokines include interferon, interleukin, thymidine, tumor necrosis factor, etc.; and the commonly used immune cells include naclonal cells, tier cells, etc. The former is a treatment method to isolate some lymphocytes from the patient’s body and incubate them with interleukins in vitro to enhance their anti-cancer potential before returning them to the patient’s body. The latter method is to isolate the lymphocytes infiltrating the patient’s resected tumor tissue, incubate them in vitro and then transfuse them back to the patient. These methods are already in clinical use and have shown some efficacy. The anti-tumor vaccine is a method to stimulate the immunity of patients against tumor after inactivating the tumor tissue and injecting it into the body. Research has been ongoing over the years, but no definitive results have been obtained yet. However, it is believed that this should be a promising therapy. Physiotherapy With the development of medical imaging, most of the cancerous tumors in human body can be accurately located, and the number of lesions, their size, depth and whether there are important blood vessels and nerves nearby can all be known. Therefore, in recent years, physiotherapy treatments such as cryotherapy, microwave therapy, laser therapy, radiofrequency therapy and ultrasound focused therapy have been introduced, which are really effective in destroying local cancer tumors. Of course, cancer is a systemic disease and it is difficult to be completely cured by such treatment, but it is beneficial to destroy the tumor as much as possible, reduce the symptoms, change the ratio between the body and the tumor, and restore and improve the ability to resist cancer. It is always valuable to combine these methods in the comprehensive treatment of cancer. Chinese medicine treatment Chinese medicine treatment for cancer may take the method of activating blood circulation and removing stagnation or use the formula of clearing heat and detoxification, but the efficacy has yet to be summarized and improved. Chinese medicine also has the theory of supporting the righteousness and eliminating the evil, which can improve the body’s ability to resist disease and help to overcome cancer. If combined with surgical treatment or radiotherapy, it can further improve the efficacy. The above therapies are listed for the convenience of description, but in fact, modern cancer treatment advocates comprehensive therapy, in which various therapies are selected with reference to the patient’s disease stage and condition, and which of the applicable methods are considered first or second, and are organically combined and gradually implemented to achieve the best curative effect. Of course, cancer treatment should also include psychotherapy, nutritional support and mobilization of the patient’s family and social resources to support the patient’s anti-cancer treatment, etc.