Chemotherapy

The term chemotherapy originally meant treating any medical condition with chemical medicines.  Even taking an aspirin was called chemotherapy.  Today the term is restricted to drugs used to kill or slow down the growth of cancer cells.  These drugs are strong medicines and have significant side affects since chemo drugs cause damage to healthy cells while killing the cancer. Healthy cells affected are those in the mouth and intestines and hair growth cells.  The side effects usually are reversed when the treatments are stopped.

Chemotherapy can cure the cancer by killing all the cancer cells so the disease is no longer detectable.  Sometimes chemotherapy only slows the cancer’s growth or keeps it from spreading.  A treatment series of cancer can shrink the growth to the point of relieving the patient of pain from pressure.

Sometimes chemotherapy is used alone; but more often, chemotherapy is combined with other treatments such as radiation therapy, surgery or biological therapy.  Chemotherapy is frequently used prior to surgery to shrink a tumor.  Sometimes chemo is used after surgery or radiation therapy to ensure that any remaining cells are killed.  Another use is to kill any new cancer cells that have reinfected the patient or have spread in the patient’s body.

Understanding how chemotherapy drugs work, which drugs to use and how much of each type of medicine are necessary is quite complicated and something to discuss with your oncologist.  Cancer cells normally grow very quickly.  All cells go through a 5-step life cycle.  Some cells go through this 5-step process faster than others. The doctor is your best source of medical information; find one who has the appropriate qualifications and who takes time to answer your questions.