Chemotherapy prevents the cancer cells from spreading and growing by destroying them or by stopping them to divide.
Cancer cells tend to grow and increase very quickly if they have no control or order. As these cells will grow very quickly, sometimes they may get divided from the actual tumor and they can also travel to other places of the body. So, chemotherapy will be helpful in weakening and destroying the cells at the actual tumor and also throughout the other body parts.
Most usual cells will grow and get divided in a precise and in an orderly way. Some cells can divide very quickly, including the cells in nails, hair follicles, digestive tract, bone marrow, and the mouth. This treatment involves the usage of chemical agents, which can stop the growth of the cells. This can also eliminate the distribution of the cells to other parts from the original site. As a result, this is considering as the systemic treatment.
How it works?
Specifically this is designed to kill the cancer cells. This will be administered through the vein and injected into the cavity of the body, or it can also be given in the form of pills, that will depend on the drug which is using to treat you.
Chemotherapy works by reducing the growth or destroying the cancer cells; but unfortunately it cannot know the difference between healthy cells and cancer cells. So, this can also be unintentionally harmful to the other types of quickly dividing cells, possibly chemotherapy causes side effects.
Some cancer cells will grow rapidly while others grow slowly. As a result, several types of drugs are used in the chemotherapy to target different growth patterns of cancer cells. Each and every drug used in this therapy has specific way of working and they work effectively in the lifecycle of the cancer treatment by targeting the cancer cells. Your physician will decide which chemotherapy drug is suitable for you.
What are the side effects?
The aim is to make your treatment as timely, problem-free and as effective as possible. The treatment works by destroying cancer cells, but it can also cause some side effects such as:
• Low count of red blood cells
• Low count of white blood cells
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Hair loss
Though some side effects are uncomfortable, they are temporary. Some can also cause reduction in dose and delays in the treatment or even life-threatening. Fortunately, efficient progress has been made in the improvement of “proactive” therapies, which will be helpful in managing the side effects.
Take active role while managing with the side effects. Learn about the things that all you can and discuss your problems with the doctor.
