How does chemotherapy work? What does chemotherapy do? Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to treat cancer. More specifically, it’s the use of drugs that kills or inhibit the growth of rapidly dividing cells. Because cancer is a condition where abnormal, rapidly dividing cells multiply uncontrollably and start invading nearby healthy body tissue, the drugs used in chemotherapy work to treat cancer by destroying the cancerous cells, or stopping further growth of cancerous cells.
Unfortunately, because there are healthy cells in our body that also divide rapidly, those healthy cells may also be harmed or altered by the chemotherapy drugs. The healthy cells that also are affected by chemotherapy treatment include cells in our bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, and hair follicles.
While the cells in our body destroyed or altered by chemotherapy will usually return to normal function when the chemo treatment is over, this is the reason for the side effects of chemotherapy. The most common side effects of therapy include hair loss, fatigue and increased susceptibility to infection, and nausea and vomiting.
How Does Chemotherapy Work – The Procedure
Chemotherapy drugs can be administered alone, or along with a combination of other drugs. Chemotherapy can also work alongside other cancer treatments and therapies, such as radiation therapy or surgery. The chemo drugs can be delivered via injection, or via oral tablets, pills capsuls, or liquids that can be taken at home by the patient. However, the schedule for taking oral tablets is very strict and if a tablet is not taken exactly on schedule, the patient should contact their oncologist immediately.
Chemotherapy is delivered over cycles of varying lengths. A cycle of chemotherapy can be as short as a day, or administered over a few weeks, depending on the type of cancer, the growth of the cancer, the goal of the chemo treatment (whether it will be used to cure the cancer, inhibit the cancer’s growth, or to alleviate cancer symptoms) and the patient’s response to treatment. After each course, the patient is usually given a rest period for their body to recover. The rest period and the chemotherapy treatment constitutes a cycle of chemotherapy treatment.
How Well Does Chemotherapy Work?
Patients facing cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy treatment are often wondering or concerned about the side effects of chemotherapy, but many are also concerned with the effectiveness of chemotherapy for their particular cancer, wondering just how well does chemo work?
The answer to this question depends on a wide variety of factors, including the type of cancer, the stage of the cancer growth, and factors specific to the individual patient. This question is best directed to an oncologist. However, even though it’s impossible to make a blanket statement about the effectiveness of cancer chemotherapy treatment, generally speaking chemotherapy does work as a cancer treatment, but “work” in this sense does not always mean “cure”. Chemotherapy be used effectively in curing cancer, controlling cancer growth, or easing cancer symptoms, depending on the circumstances.
Chemotherapy can also work along with other cancer treatments such as radiation therapy, surgery, or biological therapy. It can reduce the size of a tumor before surgery, or it can be used as adjuvant chemotherapy, where it is used to destroy cancer cells that were not destroyed or removed after surgery or radiation therapy.