What is the difference between neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy is often used together with other cancer treatments, and the timing has different names:

• Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is given before surgery or radiation therapy to make a tumor smaller.
• Adjuvant chemotherapy is given after surgery or radiation therapy to destroy cancer cells that may remain.

Chemotherapy can also be used to help other treatments work better, or to kill cancer cells that have returned or spread. Your health care team can explain how chemotherapy fits into your overall treatment plan.