Chemotherapy is
a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more
anti-cancer drugs as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen.
Chemotherapy may be given with a curative intent
or it may aim to prolong life or to reduce symptoms. Chemotherapy is one
of the major categories of the medical discipline specifically devoted
to pharmacotherapy for cancer, which
is called medical oncology. 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.
Chemotherapy drugs that kill cancer cells only when they
are dividing are called cell-cycle specific. Chemotherapy
drugs that kill cancer cells when they are at rest are called
cell-cycle non-specific. The scheduling of chemotherapy is set based on the
type of cells, the rate at which they divide, and the time at which a given
drug is likely to be effective. This is why chemotherapy is typically given in
cycles. Chemotherapy is most effective at killing cells that are rapidly
dividing. Unfortunately, chemotherapy does not know the difference between
cancer cells and normal cells. The "normal" cells will grow back and
be healthy but in the meantime, side effects occur. The "normal"
cells most commonly affected by chemotherapy are the blood cells, the cells in
the mouth, stomach and bowel, and the hair follicles; resulting in low blood
counts, mouth sores, nausea, diarrhea, and/or hair loss. Different drugs may
affect different parts of the body. Chemotherapy (anti-neoplastic
drugs) is divided into five classes based on how they work to kill cancer.
Although these drugs are divided into groups, there is some overlap among some
of the specific drugs. Further sections discuss several different types of
chemotherapy in the effort to further explain these important procedures.
For more info, please visit: https://cancergenomics.cancersummit.org/
Contact Us:
Janet Clark
Program Manager | Cancer Genomics 2019
Tel: +1-201-380-5561 (Ext. No: 7014)