What is Chemotherapy:
It is the treatment given to cure cancer. It uses drugs to destroy the cancer cells.
How does Chemotherapy Work:
It works by slowing the growth process of cancer cells that grows and replicates quickly. But during the process of destroying cancer cells the healthy cells also gets damaged. Cells that line the mouth, intestines and the ones that cause hair to grow are the most common to get damaged. The side effects caused by chemotherapy goes away after some time when the chemotherapy sessions are over.
What does Chemotherapy do?
There are certain stages of cancer. Depending on the stage and how advanced the cancer is, chemotherapy can:
- Control Cancer: It is done when chemotherapy prevents cancer from spreading. It slows the growth and destroys cancer cells that have already spread to the other parts of the body.
- Cure Cancer: When your doctor cannot detect the cancer cells in the body, it is then that chemotherapy destroys the cancer cells.
- Ease symptoms of cancer: It helps when the tumors that cause pain and pressure shrinks due to chemotherapy.
Procedure of Chemotherapy:
There are a lot of ways in which chemotherapy can be given. Some of them are:
Intra-Arterial: Chemotherapy is done directly with the blood of the artery that is feeding cancer.
Topically: This kind of chemotherapy provides you with cream that the patient rubs on the skin.
Orally: Medications are given to cancer suffering patients.
Intraperitoneal: In this process the chemotherapy goes directly to the organs like mouth, liver or ovaries depending upon the organ suffering from cancer.
How is Chemo Used:
Most of the people know that chemo is used to treat cancer but, you will get a chemo session along with radiation therapy or surgery.
- There are times when cancer cells remain in the body even after the surgery; chemo can destroy those cells. This process is known as adjuvant chemotherapy.
- Before you go for surgery, it is important that the size of the tumor is reduced. This is done by neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.
- Chemotherapy helps in recurrent cancer and also in cases of metastatic cancer.
How does a Doctor decide which Drug to Use?
The doctor may decide the medication to give a cancer patient depending on:
- What a type of cancer the patient is suffering from?
- Whether you have gone through chemotherapy sessions before.
- Whether you have a past health record about disorders related to diabetes or heart problems.
Clinical Trials:
Clinical trials are the researches and studies of cancer treatment. This gives you an idea about the new types of chemotherapy, its treatment and if you can combine multiple treatments.
Your doctor may suggest you to go for clinical trials, but before you go for it, you should know about it.
- Benefits: All the trials gives you the best cancer care. There may be a case when you are the first person to get a new drug for the treatment.
- Risks: No treatment is perfect. Neither are they all good nor are they always bad. But if you think this treatment is good for you, there might be a chance that it doesn’t work for you.
Chemotherapy is a ray of hope for the cancer patients. There are a lot of problems and pains that a cancer patient may go through. It is advisable that they know, how they can relieve themselves from such pain.
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