Cancer Treatment: What You Need to Know
Chemotherapy is a widely used method in modern cancer treatment facilities. It's a type of treatment where cancer cells are destroyed, halting their spread.
However, not all cancers can be treated with chemotherapy. Different types of cancer cells respond to different types of medications.
For optimal results, a combination of eight types of drugs is often used in chemotherapy. Doctors are also experimenting with new drug combinations to improve treatment outcomes.
Chemotherapy often weakens the body, but modern treatments have minimized these side effects. Still, it's crucial to understand when chemotherapy is necessary.
Chemotherapy is administered when doctors believe cancer cells are present in multiple areas of the body. If cancer isn't detected, some cells may spread and attack nearby tissues.
Sometimes cancer cells can travel far, such as to the liver or lungs. Surgeons can use chemotherapy to shrink tumors before surgical removal.
Radiotherapy is another method to destroy cancer cells, but it's usually targeted to specific areas. However, healthy cells around the targeted area may also be damaged.
If there's a risk of remaining cancer cells after surgery, chemotherapy may be given. This can be the case for certain cancers like leukemia.
Chemotherapy can also be administered before surgery to shrink tumors. Smaller tumors are easier to remove surgically.
Even if cancer isn't curable, chemotherapy may still be used to improve the patient's condition. It can make the body more tolerable to the disease.
How does chemotherapy work?
Chemotherapy is essentially a poison for cancer cells, known as cytotoxic chemicals. These chemicals destroy cancer cells, but they can also harm healthy cells.
Chemotherapy aims to find and destroy cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy cells. By targeting the differences between cancer cells and normal cells, chemotherapy tries to spare the latter.
Cancer cells rapidly divide and create new cells, leading to tumor growth. Chemotherapy tries to disrupt this process and prevent tumor growth.
There's a fundamental difference between cancer cells and healthy cells. Cancer cells divide rapidly and form new tumors, while healthy cells do not.
Since cancer cells rapidly multiply, they can create new tumors. Healthy cells, on the other hand, don't multiply as quickly and don't spread as much.
Healthy cells are less likely to be attacked by the immune system. Cancer cells are created within the body, so the immune system doesn't always recognize them as invaders.
Some chemotherapy drugs specifically target rapidly dividing cancer cells. Therefore, they can also damage rapidly dividing healthy cells, such as hair follicles.
Chemotherapy can weaken the body and cause side effects like diarrhea. It can also damage red blood cells, leading to anemia.
Red blood cells carry oxygen, helping other cells survive. They also help fight infections by transporting other blood cells.
Due to the risk of damage, chemotherapy patients are at risk of infection. They can also experience fatigue and a reduced ability to produce offspring.
Chemotherapy is often given through injections into the bloodstream. Sometimes, a catheter is inserted to avoid repeated injections.
Chemotherapy may be given in specific amounts to specific areas of the body. Direct chemotherapy application reduces the risk of side effects.
The duration of chemotherapy depends on the type of cancer. Some courses are given for 15 consecutive days, while others are given monthly.
What about side effects?
Some chemotherapies rapidly attack growing cancer cells, which can also affect healthy cells. Hair loss is a common side effect of chemotherapy. However, hair usually grows back after treatment.
Chemotherapy can weaken the body and cause fatigue. It can also damage reproductive cells, leading to infertility.