Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is used to treat various cancers including breast cancer, lung cancer, cologne cancer, bone cancer. Chemotherapy drugs are used which eradicate cancerous cell in the body and control the growth of cancer. Different chemotherapy drugs are available to treat different cancer. Chemotherapy drugs are administered by different methods including injections, orally, intravenously and tropically. Chemotherapy drugs and method of administration for you is determined by your doctor and medical team.

Chemotherapy drugs, method of application, time of application (adjuvant or neo-adjuvant) depend on various factors including type of cancer, stage of cancer and patient’s physical condition. Each chemotherapy treatment destroys cancer in different way. Some chemotherapy treatments cure cancers while other just control or slows down the growth of cancerous cell. Some chemotherapy treatment deals with symptoms of cancer. So, before applying chemotherapy treatment, define goals of treatment clearly.

In chemotherapy treatment, drugs damages cancerous cell. Chemotherapy treatment is effective as chemotherapy drug circulates through out the body and kills rapidly growing cancerous cell. Chemotherapy is effective than surgery or radio therapy which remove or destroy cancer cells from specific area. However, chemotherapy drugs can also harm non- cancerous, healthy cell while destroying cancerous cells which cause side effects.

Chemotherapy drugs when applied in combination or mixture can be more effective. This method of application is known as combination chemotherapy. Different chemotherapy drugs can be given either on its own or in combination with other drugs. However, selection chemotherapy drugs and its different combination depend on individual to treat cancer.

In certain type of cancers including lung cancer, chemotherapy when applied alone has limited effect. In such cases, if you use chemotherapy along with radio therapy or surgery, it is more effective than when chemotherapy alone. In adjuvant chemotherapy, chemotherapy is applied after surgery or radiation therapy to kill cancerous cell. In neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, chemotherapy is applied prior to surgery to reduce the size of tumor which makes surgery easy.

Chemotherapy is applied in cycles and each treatment cycle comprise of treatment period and recovery or rest period. Recovery or rest period is needed as patient need some time to recover from side effects of treatment. Length of treatment, no of cycle, chemotherapy drug and dose are determined by doctor. Doctor takes help of research and clinical trails to determine length of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy effectiveness depends on proper selection of chemotherapy drug, dose, length of cycle and no of cycles.

Chemotherapy treatment is effective; however, it is also associated with some side effects. As chemotherapy drugs are toxic in nature, they damage healthy cells along with cancerous cell. Some side effects caused by chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, sickness, anemia, mouth sores, extreme tiredness, memory loss, hair loss and others. When chemotherapy treatment is over, these side effects disappear within six to eight weeks.