About chemotherapy for mouth cancer

This page has information about chemotherapy for cancers of the mouth and oropharynx. There is information about

A quick guide to what's on this page
How chemotherapy works
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy together (chemoradiation)
Chemotherapy for mouth cancer that has come back
Chemotherapy to shrink mouth cancer before surgery or radiotherapy
Dietary or herbal supplements and chemotherapy
More information about chemotherapy

About chemotherapy for mouth cancer

Chemotherapy means treatment using anti cancer (cytotoxic) drugs.

Chemoradiation

Doctors sometimes give chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the same time. This is called synchronous therapy or chemoradiation. It is most commonly used for oropharyngeal cancer. It is also used for small mouth cancers so that you can avoid surgery. Chemoradiation is quite tough treatment to get through. You will need to have tests to see if you are fit enough to cope.

Chemotherapy to try and control a cancer that has come back

You may have chemotherapy on its own if your cancer is advanced, or has come back after treatment with surgery or radiotherapy. The chemotherapy can help to relieve your symptoms and may slow the growth of your cancer.

Chemotherapy to shrink a large cancer before surgery or radiotherapy

If your cancer has not spread to other organs, but is too big to operate on, your doctor may suggest chemotherapy before surgery. The aim of the treatment is to shrink your cancer with chemotherapy before you have surgery or treatment with radiotherapy. This treatment is still being investigated.

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Chemotherapy means treatment using anti cancer (cytotoxic) drugs. These drugs disrupt the growth of cancer cells and destroy them. As they circulate in the blood, the drugs can reach cancer cells almost anywhere in your body.

Doctors sometimes use chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the same time for some types of mouth and oropharyngeal cancer. You may hear this treatment called synchronous therapy or chemoradiation. It is most commonly used for oropharyngeal cancer. It is also used to treat small mouth cancers instead of surgery.

If there are still signs of cancer after the chemotherapy treatment, you will have surgery to remove it. If the cancer comes back in the future, you may be able to have surgery to remove it then.

Chemoradiation can be quite tough treatment to get through. You will need to have some tests to see if you are fit enough to cope with it. If not, you may be able to have surgery to remove the cancer and radiotherapy afterwards.

There is information about the side effects of chemoradiation in this section.

If your cancer has not spread to other organs, but is too big to operate on, your doctor may suggest chemotherapy before surgery. But this is not commonly used. Your doctor may call it neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The aim of the treatment is to shrink your cancer with chemotherapy before you have surgery or treatment with radiotherapy. This treatment is still being investigated in trials.

We don't yet know much scientifically about how some nutritional or herbal supplements may interact with chemotherapy. Some could be harmful. It is very important to let your doctors know if you take any supplements. Or if you are prescribed them by alternative or complementary therapy practitioners.

Talk to your specialist about any other tablets or medicines you take while you are having active treatment. There is information about the safety of herbal, vitamin and diet supplements in the complementary therapies section of CancerHelp UK.

Some studies seem to suggest that fish oil preparations may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs. If you are taking or thinking of taking these supplements talk to your doctor to find out whether they could affect your treatment.

For general information about chemotherapy, look at the main chemotherapy section. It explains the treatment in detail including

If you would like more information about chemotherapy, ask your chemotherapy nurse or contact our cancer information nurses. They would be happy to help.