5-Fluorouracil

Fluorouracil is often referred to as 5-FU or Adrucil. This is an anti-cancer treatment drug or a cytotoxic chemotherapy drug.

Which are the different types of cancers wherein this drug is used?

5-FU is used to treat cancers of the colon and the rectal, breast cancer, head and neck cancers, ovarian cancer, gastrointestinal cancer etc.

How is this drug administered?

This drug is either injected intravenously or it can be infused and the amount that needs to be infused depends upon a number of factors like your height, weight, type of cancer, stage of cancer, your general body health and other body ailments, etc. Apart from this there is specific protocol which should be maintained and this is followed for several hours and sometimes several weeks too.

It is also used as a topical ointment and applied as a thin coat on the affected area twice a day and again this treatment can go on for a few hours to few weeks depending upon the severity of the case.

What are the side effects of 5-FU?

Most of the time there are no such side effects which would lead to dangerous situations but then there are certain side effects which start with the treatment and end with the completion of the treatment. These side effects are reversible and can be set right after the completion of the treatment cycle. Apart from this side effects also depend upon the dosage, the metabolism of your body and the combination drug that is being used in chemotherapy along with the time duration and number of treatment cycles.

Some of the side effects are diarrhea, nausea, mouth sores, loss of appetite, low white blood cells count, anemia, bleeding, discoloration of the veins is yet another side effect of this drug etc.

Other side effects of this drug is that there is skin reaction like you end up with dry skin, skin peels off, cracking of the skin, darkening of the skin, loss of hair or thinning of the hair, discoloration of the nails, PPE syndrome etc.

Some of the more severe side effects are pain in the chest, increase in the secretion of the cardiac enzymes further leading to heart ailments but this is more so in case of previous heart ailment history etc.

The need to contact your doctor is advised when there is nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding of the nose, passing of blood in urine or stool, extreme fatigue, mouth sores that are painful and bleed etc.

Some of the precautionary methods are - Your doctor needs to know about all the medications that you are presently taking even herbal and vitamin supplements, avoid immunization or vaccination during this treatment period, any pregnancy, avoid breast feeding, avoid conceiving etc.

Certain self help tips

Use of ice cubes at least 10-15 minutes prior to the injection of 5-FU as this prevents mouth sores, increase the intake of water, use anti-diarrhea medications, eating food stuffs which helps reducing diarrhea, avoid crowded places as you are prone to infections etc. Getting your blood check up done regularly helps monitor the proper functioning of your internal body organs.

This drug works at damaging the cell structure thus destroying the further growth of these cancerous cells. Chemotherapy drugs are known to affect the cells only when they are dividing and are referred to as cell-cycle specific. In this process not only the abnormal cells are destroyed but even the normal cells are destroyed. 5-FU also belongs to the chemotherapy drug antimetabolites.