Chemotherapy for Cancer Treatment

Chemotherapy is a form of chemical drug therapy that is targeted to kill rapidly growing or dividing cells such as cancerous cells in human body. Meanwhile, chemotherapy also affects healthy cells such as white blood cell, cells in the hair follicles and cells in the stomach; for this reason, side effects like hair loss, fatigue and diarrhea usually occur to a patient who receives chemotherapy.

 

Generally, when the healthy or normal cells in the body are destroyed, the body then has to quickly rebuild the destroyed cells. After chemotherapy, the doctor will allow the patient to recover for about 3-4 weeks until the number of white blood cells has recovered sufficiently and patient’s condition is ready for the next cycle of chemotherapy. Certain types of cancer may require chemotherapy in combination with radiation for the full course of treatment. 

 

Patients with cancer may not need to be treated with chemotherapy. Firstly, we need to understand that cancer can occur to any areas of the body. Although cancer is diagnosed in the same organ, the cancer found may be in different types. Consequently, each patient may receive other types of treatment apart from chemotherapy. 

 

Chemotherapy cannot cure all types of cancer as single chemo drug may be effective with only some cancer cells. Therefore, several chemo drugs are used to treat cancer depending on the type of cancer which some types require 2-3 chemo drugs for the treatment.

For the past 40 years, there has been a constant research on the chemotherapy drugs, improving the treatment outcome and helping the doctor to choose the right combination of chemo drugs. With advanced medical technology, new techniques of treatment have been regularly developed, and this technique leads to a higher rate of success for cancer treatment.