Hormonal & Targeted Therapy

Hormonal Therapy and Targeted Therapy for Cancer

Your oncologist (physician who specializes in cancer) at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Cancer Center will develop a customized cancer treatment plan that best fits your cancer type and stage, your overall health history and other factors. Your doctor may prescribe one or a combination of chemotherapy, biological and hormonal therapies, with or without radiation therapy. 

Understanding Hormone Therapy

The growth of some cancers depends on estrogen — the predominant female hormone that stimulates breast cancer — or androgens — the predominant male hormone that stimulates prostate cancer. Hormonal therapy uses special drugs to attack these cancers by altering or blocking hormone production. Our oncologists have helped discover new strategies to use these hormonal treatments to improve your care.

We can use hormone treatment to treat a wide variety of cancers:

• Breast cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Prostate cancer

Understanding Targeted Therapy

The Division of Medical Oncology uses targeted cancer therapies. These are treatments that interfere with a process in the cancer cell that is critical to its function. They alter specific (targeted) molecules that fuel tumor growth, and often spare healthy cells.

Some of the most successful targeted therapies to date can treat blood cancers, such as chronic myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Oncologists also use targeted therapies to treat bone and soft tissue tumors, as well as kidney cancer.

Cancer Support Services

BIDMC offers a full suite of supportive services and palliative care to help you cope with troublesome side effects of hormone therapy, such as hair thinning. You can access our pain management services and cancer rehab services.

We also provide support to help manage hormonal therapy sexual side effects in males and females.