# Systemic versus local therapy

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/systemic-vs-local-therapy/  
OnCo record `systemic-vs-local-therapy` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Local therapy (surgery, radiotherapy) treats one place in the body; systemic therapy (drugs given by mouth or vein) travels through the bloodstream and treats the whole body, including cancer cells too small to see.

## Summary

Local treatments can cure a cancer that is truly confined but cannot reach cells that have already escaped, while systemic drugs reach everywhere but rarely eradicate a bulky tumour on their own; most curative treatment therefore combines them, with drugs before surgery (neoadjuvant) or after (adjuvant) to deal with microscopic spread. In metastatic disease systemic therapy is the mainstay, with local treatments added to relieve symptoms or, in oligometastatic disease, to remove every visible deposit. Intermediate approaches deliver drugs regionally (into the liver's artery, into the abdominal cavity as HIPEC, into the bladder), and radioligands blur the line by delivering radiation systemically.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-09
- Also known as: systemic therapy; systemic therapies; systemic treatment; systemic treatments; systemic; systemically; local therapy; local therapies; local treatment; local treatments; locoregional; locoregional therapy; local control; local-regional; loco-regional; multimodal; multimodality; combined modality

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_therapy
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_therapy

## Connected records

- terms: [Chemotherapy](https://onco.cc/terms/chemotherapy-term/), [Metastasis](https://onco.cc/terms/metastasis/), [Neoadjuvant / adjuvant / perioperative](https://onco.cc/terms/neoadjuvant-adjuvant/), [Oligometastatic disease](https://onco.cc/terms/oligometastatic/), [Palliative](https://onco.cc/terms/palliative-treatment/), [Primary tumour](https://onco.cc/terms/primary-tumour/), [Radiotherapy](https://onco.cc/terms/radiotherapy/)
- technologies: [HIPEC / PIPAC (intraperitoneal chemotherapy)](https://onco.cc/technologies/hipec/), [Radioligand therapy (beta emitters)](https://onco.cc/technologies/radioligand-therapy/), [Robotic & minimally invasive surgery](https://onco.cc/technologies/robotic-surgery/), [SBRT / SABR (stereotactic radiotherapy)](https://onco.cc/technologies/sbrt/)
- journals: [Cancer treatment reviews](https://onco.cc/journals/cancer-treatment-reviews/), [Chinese clinical oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/chinese-clinical-oncology/), [World journal of surgical oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/world-journal-of-surgical-oncology/)

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