Chemotherapy Effectiveness
Chemotherapy is effectively used to treat various kinds of cancers including lung cancer, breast cancer, bone cancer, cologne cancer etc. chemotherapy is used as an anti-cancer mode of treatment to eradicate the cancerous cells in the body and to also stop or control the rapid growth of these cancerous cells in the body.
There are various ways to administer these drugs which include injecting these drugs into the veins, taking them orally, tropically and intravenously. The chemotherapy drug that needs to be administered as well as the mode of treatment is both taken by the doctor and the medical team associated with the case.
The entire procedure of administering the chemotherapy drug, the method by which you will undergo this treatment, time of application i.e. adjuvant mode of chemotherapy or neo-adjuvant chemotherapy all depends upon the type of cancer, the overall physical condition of the body and the stage at which the cancer has been detected. Every chemotherapy treatment helps destroy cancerous cells but then the ways are different. Some drugs just slow down the rapid growth of these cancerous cells while some destroy the cells. Some of the drugs administered are meant to deal with the various symptoms that are associated with cancer treatment. Therefore each and every drug that is administered has its own function to perform without overlapping the effects or the side effects of the other drugs that is being administered.
Chemotherapy drugs are known to be more effective than surgery or radio therapy as these drugs are known to circulate all through the body via the blood stream thus eradicating the cancerous cells in the body simultaneously. Along with the benefits of these chemotherapy drugs there are also side effects as these drugs are also known to harm the healthy cells that surround the cancerous cells.
Use of combination drugs has proved to be more effective compared to single drug chemotherapy. Selection of chemotherapy drugs and the use of its combination drug depend upon the type of cancer and the stage of cancer detected.
In case of lung cancer the effect of only chemotherapy is not very effective but them the use of radio therapy or even surgery has proved to be more effective along with chemotherapy. In adjuvant chemotherapy, chemotherapy is always applied only after surgery or after radio therapy as this kills all the cancerous cells.
In case of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, chemotherapy is applied before undergoing surgery as this helps shrink the size of tumour thus increasing the chances of survival as well as the success of the treatment.
All chemotherapy treatments are applied in cycles and each and every cycle has a rest period or recovery period before the commencement of the next cycle. This recovery period is a must so that the side effects associated with chemotherapy wares down and also the body recovers from the bombardment of these chemo drugs. The number of cycles, the drugs to be administered and the dosage of these drugs depend upon the doctor’s choice after a thorough research and clinical tests are carried off on the patient. The effectiveness of the treatment depends upon the drugs selected, length of the treatment cycle, and number of treatment cycle and the dosage of the drugs.
As all the chemotherapy drugs are toxic by nature there are side effects that are bound to appear and these side effects include vomiting, nausea, anaemia, tiredness, fatigue, loss of memory, loss of appetite, low blood count etc. These side effects disappear after the completion of the treatment cycle i.e. it takes about two months for the side effects to disappear after the completion of the treatment.