Depending on your type of cancer and how advanced it is, chemotherapy can:
Cure cancer - when chemotherapy destroys cancer cells to the point that your doctor can no longer detect them in your body and they will not grow back.
Control cancer - when chemotherapy keeps cancer from spreading, slows its growth, or destroys cancer cells that have spread to other parts of your body.
Ease cancer symptoms (also called palliative care) - when chemotherapy shrinks tumors that are causing pain or pressure.
How is chemotherapy used?
Sometimes, chemotherapy is used as the only cancer treatment. But more often, you will get chemotherapy along with surgery, radiation therapy, or biological therapy. Chemotherapy can:
Make a tumor smaller before surgery or radiation therapy. This is called neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.
Destroy cancer cells that may remain after surgery or radiation therapy. This is called adjuvant chemotherapy.
Help radiation therapy and biological therapy work better.
Destroy cancer cells that have come back (recurrent cancer) or spread to other parts of your body (metastatic cancer).