The short answer
An emergency department may not know your cancer history unless you tell them. This guide covers what to carry, what to say first at check-in, and when CDC and NCI say to get help quickly.
Tell the person checking you in that you are being treated for cancer. CDC says a fever during chemotherapy may mean a life-threatening infection, and you should be seen quickly.
Bring a short summary of your diagnosis, recent treatment, medicines, devices and your doctor's contact details, as ACS and CDC suggest.
Call your doctor right away for a temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher during chemotherapy. CDC calls it a medical emergency.
A systematic review found infection to be the most commonly reported reason people with cancer use the emergency department, followed by pain, then breathing problems, then gut problems.
On this page
Choose how you want to read this
The whole article, with every detail and caution.
This page helps people with cancer, and the people with them, get ready for a trip to the emergency department. It covers what to bring, what to say first, and when to get help.
Get ready before you go
The American Cancer Society and CDC suggest keeping this information ready:
- Your cancer diagnosis, and its stage if you know it.
- The treatment you have had, and the date of your last treatment.
- Your medicine list, including cancer and other medicines.
- Any medical devices you use, such as a port.
- The name and phone number of your doctor and treatment center.
A list of allergies and a copy of any advance directive can also help. An advance directive is a written plan for your care. NIA suggests giving copies to your health care providers. ACS offers a wallet card you can fill in.
Say these things first, at triage
- Tell the person checking you in about your cancer. CDC says to tell them if you are getting chemotherapy and if you have a fever. A fever may mean an infection that can be life-threatening. CDC says you should be seen quickly.
- Mention any recent transplant, cellular therapy, or immunotherapy.
- Tell them if your blood counts have been low.
- Ask the emergency team to contact your oncology team.
- Do not wait for your records to be perfect. Get care first.
Describe what changed and when it started
Give the emergency team a timeline. When did the symptom start? What has it done since? What is different from your normal? Say which treatment you are on and the date of your last dose. If you took your temperature at home, give the reading and the time.
Talk with your doctor or nurse before you take any medicine for a fever. This includes aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen. NCI says these can lower a fever but may also hide signs of a more serious problem.
Tell the team about practical barriers too, such as cost or having no way home. They may be able to help.
Before you leave the department
Ask who is ordering each test and when the results will be back. Ask what the plan is for going home. Ask who will tell your cancer clinic what happened, and what should be written down for them. Ask which symptoms should bring you straight back. Get a date for each next step, and ask for a backup if the first option is not available.
Why people with cancer most often go to the emergency department
A 2025 review looked at many studies of people with cancer. It found infection was the most common reason for an emergency visit or a hospital stay. Next came pain, then breathing problems, then gut problems such as a blocked bowel, then side effects of treatment.
CDC says an infection during chemotherapy can be life-threatening. That is why the fever threshold below matters.
When to get help sooner
- Call 911 or go to an emergency department now if you have trouble breathing, chest pain, bleeding that will not stop, sudden confusion, or you faint. MedlinePlus lists these as warning signs of an emergency. CDC lists shivering or feeling very cold, confusion, clammy skin, and a fast heart rate as signs of sepsis. Sepsis is a severe reaction to infection. CDC calls it a life-threatening emergency. Do not drive yourself.
- Call your doctor immediately if you are getting chemotherapy and your temperature is 100.4°F (38°C) or higher. That is the number CDC gives. Fever during chemotherapy is a medical emergency in CDC's guidance. Fever may be the only sign of an infection. Know which number to call when the office is closed. If you cannot reach anyone, go to an emergency department. Say you are getting chemotherapy.
- Call your health care team if you have other signs of infection. NCI lists chills, a cough or sore throat, and mouth sores. It also lists pain when you pass urine, and swelling or redness where a tube enters your body. NCI says infections during cancer treatment can be life threatening. They need urgent care.
- Ask your team ahead of time how soon to call about some problems. These include pain your usual medicine does not help, vomiting or diarrhea, or a new symptom that is slowly getting worse. NCI suggests you ask which signs mean you need the emergency room, and which you should call about.
Safety and scope
This guide cannot diagnose a symptom. It cannot promise services, job protection, or insurance coverage. Follow your own team's instructions first. Do not change your medicines, treatment, diet, devices, oxygen, or activity limits on your own.
For immediate danger, call your local emergency number. In the United States, call or text 988 for suicide or mental-health crisis support. Elsewhere, use your local crisis service.
Sources
- National Cancer Institute — Infection and Neutropenia During Cancer Treatment
- National Cancer Institute — Managing Cancer Care
- PMC — Understanding oncologic emergencies and related emergency department visits and hospitalizations: a systematic review
- CDC — Watch Out for Fever (Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients)
- CDC — About Sepsis
- CDC — Be Prepared for an Emergency (Cancer Survivors)
- American Cancer Society — Coping with Cancer in an Emergency or Natural Disaster
- MedlinePlus — Recognizing Medical Emergencies
Common questions
What should I bring to the emergency department?
The American Cancer Society suggests a short printed summary with your diagnosis, treatments, the date of your last treatment, and any medicine or medical devices you use, plus the name of your doctor and treatment center. CDC suggests your doctor's name and phone number and a list of medicines you take. A list of allergies and a copy of any advance directive can also help. Do not wait for your records to be perfect. Get care first.
What should I say first at triage?
ACS says to make sure you tell them about your cancer. CDC says to tell the person checking you in that you are a cancer patient getting chemotherapy, and if you have a fever. Mention any recent transplant, cellular therapy or immunotherapy too, and if your blood counts have been low. Ask the emergency team to contact your oncology team. Then explain what changed and when it started.
Should I take something for a fever before I go?
Not without asking. NCI says to talk with your doctor or nurse before taking medicine for a fever, even aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen, because these medicines can mask signs of a more serious problem. CDC says a fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher during chemotherapy is a medical emergency, because fever may be the only sign of an infection, and an infection during chemotherapy can be life-threatening. Call your doctor immediately, and know which number to call when the office is closed. If you cannot reach them, go to an emergency department. Write down the reading and the time, and bring that with you.
What are people with cancer usually in the emergency department for?
A 2025 systematic review of oncologic emergencies found infection to be the most commonly reported reason for emergency department use or hospitalization, followed by pain, then breathing problems, then gut problems including bowel obstruction, then treatment-related toxicities. CDC says an infection during chemotherapy can be life-threatening.
Questions to ask your doctor
Being prepared helps you get the most out of your appointments. Save or print these questions.
Tap a question to save it to your list (kept on this device).
Your next step
Turn this guide into a short list for your care team.
Talk with a trained specialist or navigator
Cancer Explained provides educational guidance, but does not replace trained specialists, social workers, or your medical team.
Talk to a trained cancer information specialist
Free, confidential assistance from NCI Cancer Information Service via phone, chat, or email.
Contact your oncology team
Locate after-hours contact numbers, portal messages, or urgent triage phone lines.
Find a patient navigator
Get one-on-one help with appointments, logistics, translation, and care coordination.
Find a genetic counselor
Discuss inherited mutation risk, family history, and genetic testing options.
Find an oncology social worker
Access emotional counseling, family support groups, and mental health resources.
Find a financial navigator
Locate copay assistance foundations, grant programs, and lodging/travel support.
Find a clinical-trial specialist
Search matching studies and speak with NCI trial information specialists.
Get urgent help
Fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher during chemo, severe pain, or trouble breathing: call your cancer care team right away, day or night. Call 911 for an emergency.
Where to get help with this, by name
A hospital social worker or financial navigator is the best first call if you have one. If you do not, these organisations help at no cost to you.
- Patient Advocate Foundation — (800) 532-5274. Case managers take on insurance appeals, denials and medical debt with you. Free.
- TotalAssist (Patient Advocate Foundation's copay programme, merged with the PAN Foundation in 2026) — 866-512-3861. Help with medication copays, coinsurance and deductibles, insurance premiums, and office-visit and administration charges on the day of treatment, across nearly 150 conditions.
- CancerCare — 800-813-HOPE (4673). Oncology social workers, free counselling and support groups. Limited financial help with transport, home care, child care and lodging for people in active treatment who meet their income guidelines — funding is first-come, first-served, so call to ask what is open.
- Triage Cancer — 424-258-4628. Free legal and financial navigation: insurance, employment rights, disability.
- Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) — (800) 955-4572. Information Specialists answer questions on treatment, insurance and financial problems.
- HealthCare.gov — 1-800-318-2596. For questions about the external review process — the independent review your insurer is required by law to accept.
Your state Department of Insurance regulates insurers and takes consumer complaints. On Medicare, your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) gives free one-to-one counselling. If a specific drug is the problem, ask the manufacturer about its patient assistance programme.
Phone numbers checked 31 July 2026. Programmes and eligibility change — if a number has moved, please tell us.
Plain-language explanation of the published sources cited on this page. AI-assisted, source-checked, not clinician-reviewed.
Sources last checked: 2026-09-27 what this meansLast updated: 2026-09-29Next planned review: 2027-01-22
Review details and limits
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status — Source checked. This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
High-risk topic — talk to your care team. This topic can involve urgent, individual medical decisions. This page is general education only: it cannot tell you whether your situation is an emergency or what you personally should do. Follow your oncology team's instructions and contact them for individual guidance.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
Words to know
Tap any term to see what it means.
How this page was created
Cancer Explained does not originate medical claims. Every page restates guidance already published by the National Cancer Institute, the CDC, the USPSTF and the FDA, in plain language, with the source cited so you can check the original yourself. AI does the translating and organizing; automated checks test claims, citations, clarity and safety before anything publishes, and this is translation and navigation, not clinical judgment. Nothing here is personal medical advice, and no page can account for your particular situation.
Editorial status: Source checked — This page was written with AI assistance and then compared with the sources listed on it, looking for statements those sources do not back up. That check is not a sentence-by-sentence record and can miss errors. It is not a medical review, and it does not confirm the page is complete or right for your situation.
Human medical review: not completed. Pages here are not signed off by a clinician before they publish. That is not an oversight we are quietly working around: we restate published guidance and cite it, so the authority belongs to the source rather than to us, and every page names where its claims come from — you can verify us instead of trusting us. Where a volunteer clinician has reviewed a page, their name and credentials appear on it; where no name appears, no clinician has checked it. We are glad to have reviewers and are recruiting them, and we do not hold pages back waiting for one. Use this site to understand your situation and to ask better questions of the people treating you.
Read more about our editorial process, our use of AI, and our corrections policy.
Spotted a problem? Report an error — a factual mistake, broken or outdated source, confusing wording, or anything that seems unsafe. Please do not include names, medical record numbers, dates of birth, addresses, or other identifying medical information in your report.
After using this page, do you understand what to do next?
Anonymous — we only record the answer, never who gave it.