Treatments for stage 3 and stage 4A vaginal cancer

You may be offered the following treatments for stage 3 and stage 4A vaginal cancer. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. It is usually used to treat stage 3 and 4A vaginal cancer. External radiation therapy and brachytherapy may be used together.

Chemoradiation may be used instead of radiation therapy alone to treat vaginal cancer. The most common chemotherapy drug given during radiation therapy is cisplatin, but other chemotherapy drugs may also be used.

Find out more about radiation therapy for vaginal cancer.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. It may be used along with radiation therapy to treat stage 3 and stage 4A vaginal cancer. The chemotherapy can help make the radiation therapy work better.

Find out more about chemotherapy for vaginal cancer.

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with vaginal cancer in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.

You may want to consider a type of care to make you feel better without treating the cancer itself. This may be because the cancer treatments don't work anymore, they're not likely to improve your condition or they may cause side effects that are hard to cope with. There may also be other reasons why you can't have or don't want cancer treatment.

Talk to your healthcare team. They can help you choose care and treatment for advanced cancer.