Treatment for fungating tumours

Your treatment for a fungating (ulcerating) tumour depends on the type of cancer and any treatments you have had.

Treatment options

Your medical team might offer you the following treatment for your fungating tumour:

• surgery
• chemotherapy
• radiotherapy
• hormone therapy
• electrochemotherapy

Treatment aims to kill cancer cells and help to shrink a fungating (ulcerating) wound. This can reduce pressure on nerves, which can decrease pain. These treatments also aim to reduce oozing and bleeding.

But treatments are not suitable for everyone. Your doctor will discuss the possible benefits and side effects with you.

Surgery

It may be possible to have an operation to treat your fungating wound. But it will depend on the size and position of the tumour. It is not possible for everyone. Fungating tumours can damage blood vessels which can make surgery difficult to do.

Your doctor will tell you whether surgery might be an option for you.  

Chemotherapy

You might have treatment with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is used to help shrink the tumour and reduce any symptoms. Chemotherapy is sometimes used in combination with targeted cancer drugs.

Chemotherapy and targeted drugs can be given as a drip into a vein (intravenously). Or sometimes they might be a cream that you apply to the skin. Creams that are used include:

• fluorouracil
• imiquimod

Radiotherapy

Doctors often use radiotherapy to treat fungating (ulcerating) tumours.

Ulceration could seem worse in the beginning when you have radiotherapy. This is because the cancer cells die off. You might have a mild skin reaction to the radiotherapy, which causes redness and dry, flaky skin.

You may have some other side effects of radiotherapy. These will depend on the part of your body that is having treatment.

Hormone therapy

Your doctor might recommend hormone treatment if your primary cancer responds to hormones. For example, if you have oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Hormone therapy can help to shrink the ulcerating tumour and slow down its growth.

With this type of treatment, signs of improvement could take 4 to 6 weeks to appear.

Electrochemotherapy

Electrochemotherapy is a combination of:

• chemotherapy injected into the tumour or bloodstream
• electrical current to help chemotherapy pass into cancer cells

Fungating tumours can cause discomfort due to bleeding. This symptom can be difficult to cope with. Electrochemotherapy treatment can help stop the bleeding and relieve the discomfort.