- Cytotoxic chemotherapy – a drug treatment that is given to kill cancer cells
- Immunotherapy – prompts the immune system to treat the cancer by recognising and attacking the cancer cells
- Targeted therapy – a cancer treatment that targets proteins that control how cancer cells grow, divide, and spread
- Hormone therapy – a cancer treatment that slows or stops the growth of the cancer cells that require hormones to grow. The treatment works by lowering the amount of hormones in the body or blocking their effects on cells in order to slow down or stop the growth of hormone sensitive cancers
Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT)
Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) is the use of drugs to treat or control cancer. This includes cytotoxic chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy, or a combination of these.
SACT can be given alone or together with other treatments (surgery or radiotherapy) to treat cancer. This can be given with the expectation of achieving a cure or aim of controlling or shrinking the cancer to improve symptoms or prolong life, even if a cure is not possible. Non curative treatment is sometimes referred to as “palliative” SACT.
SACT can have side effects and the oncology team must always balance the risks of treatment against the potential benefits for individual patients.
SACT can be given alone or together with other treatments (surgery or radiotherapy) to treat cancer. This can be given with the expectation of achieving a cure or aim of controlling or shrinking the cancer to improve symptoms or prolong life, even if a cure is not possible. Non curative treatment is sometimes referred to as “palliative” SACT.
SACT can have side effects and the oncology team must always balance the risks of treatment against the potential benefits for individual patients.
SACT Therapies
How is SACT treatment delivered?
- Intravenous – SACT is delivered into the vein - depending on your treatment plan this can vary from 30 minutes to more than six hours
- Orally – drugs are taken by mouth in tablet, capsule or liquid form
- Subcutaneously – the drugs are injected into the skin/tissue
- Intramuscular – the drugs are injected into the muscle
People who may be involved in your care
- Oncology consultant – is the senior doctor in charge of your oncology treatment. They will discuss treatment options with the patient and work closely with the multidisciplinary team which includes other oncology doctors, nursing and pharmacy staff as well as the other medical specialists involved in cancer diagnosis and treatment such as surgeons, radiologists and pathologists.
- Specialist registrar (StR) – is a doctor who is undergoing advanced training in oncology and works under the supervision of a consultant within oncology and in conjunction with the multidisciplinary team to deliver high standard patient care.
- Oncology pharmacist – pharmacists specialise in understanding how drugs work, their side effects and any drug interactions. The pharmacy teams role includes ensuring safe and appropriate use of medicines, providing medication, and advising other healthcare professionals and patients. They take an active part in ward rounds, patient facing clinics and providing advice to the multidisciplinary team.
- Advance Nurse Practitioner (ANP) – highly trained nurses who use their specialist knowledge and skills to provide care to patients by assessing the clinical situation, treatment and appropriate supportive management.
- Clinical Specialist Nurse (CNS) – provides expert support and advice within their specialised area, providing a link between the patient and the multidisciplinary team.
- Senior Charge Nurse (SCN) - provides leadership and assurance of quality of care delivered in the oncology department. They are the main point of contact if a patient needs any additional information. Working alongside the SCN there is also a SACT Charge Nurse (CN) who coordinates care within the SACT treatment areas.
- SACT Nurse – specialise in the safe delivery of treatment. Their role has four main elements. They assist in the assessment of fitness to receive treatment, provide education to patients about their treatment and the potential side effects that may be experienced. They are skilled in the administration and disposal of SACT and also provide emotional support to the patient and signpost them to available support services.
- Registered nurses – the oncology department has an inpatient area and designated SACT treatment areas. The SACT treatment areas are staffed with SACT trained nurses. Registered nurses within the inpatient area have an understanding of side effects and care of patient after SACT treatment. They are skilled in the assessment of side effects and communicates with all patients and care providers to help develop a plan tailored to each individual patients needs.
- Healthcare assistant – will assist the nursing team in number of different ways such as recording observations i.e. weight, height, blood pressure. They are often the first point of contact for patients; communicating treatment dates and appointment times. The main component of their role is to assist with personal care and nutritional needs.