Most newly diagnosed patients and their families want and demand to hear their doctors say they will start immediately to treat their cancer. Treatment might need to be started quickly if:
- You have a type of cancer that needs to be treated right away, like some leukemias, lymphomas, and certain other cancers that tend to be aggressive (grow and spread very fast).
- You have a tumor that’s pressing on an organ or other vital part of the body, and treatment is needed to relieve the pressure.
In these cases, it’s important to start treatment as quickly as possible.
More frequently, that is not the case. Planning cancer treatment can be complex and take some time. In 2024, the typical time between a cancer diagnosis and the start of treatment varied, but it was generally a few weeks to a few months.
Many factors affect when treatment can or should be started. When treatment doesn’t need to start immediately, it might be delayed while:
- You are waiting to get lab results back that will help decide what treatment option is best.
- You have already had surgery to remove a tumor, and you need time to recover before starting more treatment.
People can wait a few weeks or even a few months to start treatment because past clinical experience has shown that their type of cancer does not tend to grow or spread as fast as others.
It’s important to know each person’s case is different. There are many factors that can affect when treatment should, or does, start. Questions about when your treatment should start need to be answered by your cancer care team, because they know your situation best. But in most cases, a delay in beginning treatment should not affect treatment outcome.
Nevertheless, these weeks or months of waiting can be, will be, devastatingly difficult for you and your family and loved ones. There are trained “lay navigators” (cancer or caregiver survivors, case workers, counselors) in most communities who can support you through this time. Seek them out now. Let them help you get control while you wait to be treated.
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