Tests, Procedures and Treatments

When the care team is developing a diagnosis or treatment plan for cancer and other conditions, they may order a variety of tests and/or recommend certain procedures or treatment options. It’s important to ask the care team about terms that are unfamiliar to develop a solid understanding of what’s happening and to make informed decisions about the road ahead.

The following list includes some of the tests, procedures and treatments that may be part of the diagnosis and care plan:

• Barium swallow
• Bispecific antibodies
• Biopsy
• Blood transfusion
• Bone marrow biopsy and aspiration
• CA 19 9
• Cancer blood tests
• Cancer vaccines
• Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)
• CBC (complete blood count) testing
• Checkpoint inhibitors
• Chemotherapy
• Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy
• Computed tomography (CT) scan
• Cystectomy
• Cystoscopy
• Cytokines
• Embolization procedures
• Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
• Endoscopic ultrasound
• Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD)
• Gene therapy
• Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)
• Immunotherapy
• Interventional radiology (Image-guided therapy)
• Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty
• Liquid biopsy
• Liver function tests
• Lumbar puncture
• Lymph node removal (lymphadenectomy)
• Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP)
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan
• Microwave and radiofrequency ablation
• Monoclonal antibodies
• Natural killer cell therapy
• Oncolytic virus therapy
• Orchiectomy
• PARP inhibitors
• Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
• Prostate artery embolization
• Radiation therapy
• Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection
• Sigmoidoscopy
• Stool tests
• Thrombectomy and thrombolysis
• TIPS procedure
• Tumor infiltrating lymphocyte therapy
• Tumor markers
• Ureteroscopy
• Urine cytology
• Urostomy