|
Chemotherapy is the general term for any treatment
involving the use of chemical agents to stop cancer cells from growing.
Chemotherapy can eliminate cancer cells at sites great distances from
the original cancer. As a result, chemotherapy is considered a systemic
treatment.
A chemotherapy regimen (a treatment plan and schedule)
usually includes drugs to fight cancer plus drugs to help support
completion of the cancer treatment at the full dose on schedule.
Chemotherapy is designed to kill cancer cells.
Chemotherapy can be administered through a vein, injected into a body
cavity, or delivered orally in the form of a pill, depending on which
drug is used.
Chemotherapy works by destroying cancer cells;
unfortunately, it cannot tell the difference between a cancer cell and
some healthy cells. So chemotherapy eliminates not only the fast-growing
cancer cells but also other fast-growing cells in your body, including,
hair and blood cells.
Some cancer cells grow slowly while others grow
rapidly. As a result, different types of chemotherapy drugs target the
growth patterns of specific types of cancer cells. Each drug has a
different way of working and is effective at a specific time in the life
cycle of the cell it targets. Your doctor will determine the
chemotherapy drug that is right for you.
(courtesy of chemotherapy.com)
Additional Information
|
Chemotherapy May Not Affect Survival or Quality of
Life for Patients with Advanced Mesothelioma
Researchers
from the UK and Australia involved in a multicenter randomized
trial have concluded that chemotherapy for advanced pleural
mesothelioma may not improve survival or quality of life.
More...
ALIMTA®,
pemetrexed is an antifolate antineoplastic agent that works by
blocking specific enzymes thought to play a role in the rapid growth
of lung tumors.
Alimta can be given with cisplatin, another
anti-cancer medicine.
ALIMTA in combination with cisplatin,
camptosar or other agents is indicated for the treatment of patients
with malignant pleural mesothelioma whose disease is unresectable or
who are otherwise not candidates for curative surgery.
More...
ONCONASE is an agent that is meant
to target cancerous cells while sparing healthy cells from side
effects. ONCONASE is taken into cancerous cells, where it kills the
cell through various processes. More... |
|
PATIENT PROFILES
