Chemotherapy
Written by admin on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 in Chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a drug based therapy; which affects the whole body by passing through blood circulation. The goal of systemic chemotherapy and other treatments is to kill the cells of cancer which will extend from the origin of cancer to other parts of the body. Chemotherapy treatment is used especially for cancer. There are more than 50 chemotherapy drugs are available. Drugs are employed in various manners according to the type of cancer, its growth and the general health of the person being treated.
Various drugs of chemotherapy can only be employed or in the combinations of two drugs or more. Chemotherapy is employed with various stages of cancer. It is employed to treat the tumours affecting with the organs such as the breast, bowel, as well as for blood cancers such as leukemia. Chemotherapy is effective to kill the cancer cells because drugs are effective in affecting the division of cells quickly. The chemotherapy can cause side effects because the cancer cells are not the only cells which divide quickly in our body. The blood cells, intestinal area, mouth, vagina, nose, hair, and nails also undergo constant and fast division. This means that chemotherapy will also affect them.
The type of drugs used for chemotherapy depends on a certain number of factors such as the type of cancer, origin of cancer in our body, if cancer extends to other parts of the body, the general health of the person etc. People are supervised regularly in all their course of chemotherapy by physical examination, x-rays, blood as well as urine tests. When cancer extends to other parts of the body, it is difficult to cure these conditions entirely. In this case, the goal of chemotherapy is to control the progress of the disease and to prolong the period of the life of good quality for as long as possible. This is called palliative chemotherapy.
All drugs of chemotherapy perform the attacking of the cancer cells which divide quickly. The normal cells divide at a rate which is well controlled by the body. However, the division of cancer cells becomes uncontrolled and the production of new cells leads to the formation of a tumour or blood cancer. Drugs of chemotherapy affect the division of the cancer cells and kill them entirely.
In some types of cancer, especially leukemia, high degree of chemotherapy is employed. This treatment also destroyed several proper immunized cells of the body and must be followed by bone marrow transplant, which replaces tissues damaged by drugs of high amount.
Cancer can be defined as fast and uncontrolled growth of cells. Anti-cancer drugs functions efficiently in blocking the growth and the division of the cancer cells. Various drugs are used in various stages of the chemotherapy processes. Sometimes, a combination of drugs is most effective in killing the cancer cells.