Treatment of recurrent vaginal cancer

Recurrent vaginal cancer means that the cancer has come back after it has been treated. You may be offered the following treatments for recurrent 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. You may be offered radiation therapy to treat recurrent vaginal cancer. External radiation therapy and brachytherapy may be used together.

Find out more about radiation therapy for vaginal cancer.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. It may be used to treat recurrent vaginal cancer if radiation therapy can't be used or when there are many areas with cancer (extensive disease).

Find out more about chemotherapy for vaginal cancer.

Surgery may be offered for locally recurrent vaginal cancer that was previously treated with radiation therapy. The type of surgery used for recurrent vaginal cancer is usually a pelvic exenteration.

Find out more about surgery 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.