Radiation Therapy
Radiation Therapy is commonly used to treat NPC cancer. NPC patients are usually treated with Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) which focuses high-energy radiation beams from outside the body on the cancer, killing the cancer cells in the process.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is usually used as a supplementary treatment to radiation therapy and is either taken as a pill or through the vein.
Two common ways in which it can be administered are:
At the same time as radiotherapy
This can enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy but the side effects of both chemotherapy and radiotherapy can be difficult to handle.
After radiotherapy
This is used to kill any remaining cancer cells after radiotherapy.
Surgery
Surgery is seldom used as the initial treatment for NPC. It can be considered as an option if the cancer recurs after treatment and if the cancer has not spread to other parts of the body.