What is Chemotherapy used for?

[Flip Flop]

I mean, I know people with cancer have to attend chemo, and I know that it can make people's hair fall out, and their skin peel, and get a rash and that, but who has to have it? What IS it? Thank you muchies. =]

[Lexy]

i do chemo and im 16 but its makes us sicker but in the end it helps us. chemo is suppose to kill bad cells but chemo can't tell the difference between good and bad so its kills both good and bad.

[Clo Clo]

My mom had to have chemotherapy when she got cancer. It is a poison that they put into your veins and it runs in your blood and it targets your cancer cells and kills them. It also kills your fast growing cells like hair thats why your hair falls out.

[suitti]

It's to kill the cancer. But it's not very specific, so the poisons do considerable damage to the patient as well.

My guess is that in less than 50 years, we'll look back on chemotherapy as barbaric.

[Panda]

There are around 150 different types of chemotherapy . . the purpose behind chemo is to shrink tumors or kill off residual metastatic disease.
In advanced cancer large tumors will often shed hundreds of microscopic malignant cells into the blood stream or lymphatic system. This is called metastatic cancer . . and it means that the cancer sends out replica's of itself all over the body and sets up new cancer colonies. Those new cancer cells can than send out even more microscopic cells until the body is overwhelmed. Chemotherapy is intended to stop that progression of disease as it is administered into the blood stream. Hopefully the chemo follows those microscopic cells and kills them before they set up a new cancer site. However, there is no guarantee that chemotherapy will work with each persons unique type of chemistry . . sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Chemo is also used to shrink or kill large tumors before surgery so that there will be less tumor to remove. After surgery chemo is used to make sure that no tiny malignant cells were left behind . . . sometimes this will work and sometimes it does not work depending on the patient and the type of cancer.

Some cancers respond to chemotherapy . .while others do not.

In recent years the harsher chemotherapy has been slowly replaced by targeted chemotherapy. This type of chemo can be used on a daily basis, at home and is intended to control the cancer rather than 'cure' the cancer. Some cancers respond to this type of chemo and some do not.

Chemo can be used to shrink, kill, or control the progression of malignant tumors (cancer) . . but there is never any guarantee. All chemotherapy drugs go through a process called Clinical Trials where they are tested by cancer patients to see how or if they work for each type of cancer. Chemo drugs are tested for safety, dosage, and efficiacy against cancer types. But because every person is a unique individual . . sometimes the chemo will not work as well in one person as in another . . which is why there is no overall 'cure' for cancer yet. Still, as far as chances go . . certain chemo drugs are known to work and do kill or shrink tumors . . this can be tested using a Cat Scan, MRI, or PET for each patient. The doctor will keep track to see how well the patient is responding to the chemotherapy . . if the tumors shrink or die than the doctor knows the drug is working . .if the tumors grow or spread than the doctor knows the drug is not working and will switch it to another protoctol until he finds something that works.

[szo]

I would like to give you a short background about cancer. Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of cells with malignant behavior such as invasion and metastasis, so chemotherapy is used because it affects cell division. Tumors with high growth factors are more sensitive to chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can cause depression of the immune system by decreasing the white blood cells, red BC, and platelets, and by paralysing the bone marrow, but these side effects can be improved by blood transfusion and bone marrow transplant. I think the positive therapeutic effect outweighs the immunosuppression. The other treatments are radiation therapy or surgery.