What does chemotherapy mean in terms of cancer treatment?
Chemotherapy is the use of any drug to treat any disease. But to most people, the word chemotherapy means drugs used for cancer treatment. It’s often shortened to “chemo.” Surgery and radiation therapy remove, kill, or damage cancer cells in a certain area, but chemo can work throughout the whole body.
How does chemotherapy work in the human body?
They work throughout your body and are called a systemic treatment. Whether chemotherapy is a suitable treatment for you, and which drugs you might have, depends on: You may have just one chemotherapy drug or a combination of different chemotherapy drugs.
What do the letters stand for in chemotherapy?
One example is CHOP: Ask your doctor what each letter stands for. Ask them to write down the individual names of each drug in full. This will make it easier for you to find information about them. Many cancer drug names begin with the same letter – and it’s important to be sure which drugs you’re having.
How many different types of chemotherapy are there?
There are more than 100 different drugs currently available and new ones are being developed all the time. You may have chemotherapy with other types of cancer drugs. Sometimes doctors use the word cytotoxic to describe the way chemotherapy works. Cytotoxic means cell killing.
Does chemotherapy do more harm than good?
Chemotherapy Can Cause More Harm than Good to Cancer Patients. The use of Chemotherapy among cancer patients has become extremely common as it is used as a first choice treatment for all, regardless the types of cancer or its stage. However, scientists warn against the use of Chemotherapy for it might do more harm than good to the cancer patients.
What actually happens in chemotherapy?
Chemotherapy works against cancer by killing fast-growing cancer cells . Chemotherapy (also called chemo) is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells , which grow and divide quickly. Chemotherapy is used to:
Does chemotherapy really work?
It targets cells that grow and divide quickly, as cancer cells do. Unlike radiation or surgery, which target specific areas, chemo can work throughout your body. But it can also affect some fast-growing healthy cells, like those of the skin, hair, intestines, and bone marrow. That’s what causes some of the side effects from the treatment.
What should you expect after chemotherapy?
What to Expect After Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy involves routinely putting strong drugs in your body to kill cancer cells. After each session, you may find yourself feeling fatigued and sore in addition to lacking an appetite, feeling nauseated, or having an upset stomach and diarrhea.