High Dose Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is useful for treating cancer and many people who suffer from cancer can choose chemotherapy as an option of treatment. The process of cure of cancer varies in different kind and stage of disease of cancer. The dose of chemotherapy is examined by oncologist according to seriousness of disease. A patient is provided with the high dose of chemotherapy if the cells of cancer have reoccurred after treatment of patient for the first time. If anyone faces the problem of reappearance of cancer in situation of lymphoma, the dose of the chemotherapy is required to be increased to prevent the situation of further development of cells of cancer. In case, the growth of cancer cells do not stop even after giving high dose of chemotherapy then it can assist in reduction of size of nodes and permits the patient to enjoy a healthy and long life.
The high dose of Chemotherapy is helpful in different ways. The high dose of chemotherapy can also be used with radiotherapy. However the combination of radiotherapy and the chemotherapy is not always recommended. The doctor takes the decision of giving sufficient dose of chemotherapy to a patient only after examining the kind and severity of disease. The higher does of chemotherapy includes a rigid and very serious treatment and those who have decided to provide this treatment to patient should be very mindful about its ill effects while using it.
The doctor should take certain steps before performing high dose chemotherapy on the patient. The oncologist should gather the cells of stems first of all such as basic cells out of which the development of other cells takes place while the patient stays in sound health condition. This method is referred as harvesting of cells. The cells which are gathered should be protected by freezing them till the start of treatment.
The basic method included in the chemotherapy of higher dose is the stem cells harvest. This method includes giving many injections to the patient to increase the development and growth of stem cells within blood. The stem cells are collected through a method which includes the elimination of blood from body by using a needle which is placed in the arm. The blood is provided to the body with the assistance of machine which is known as separator. The separator does the work of separating cells from blood as rest of blood enters into the body with different needle. The cells of stem are gathered from bone marrow. A general anesthesia is used for performing this operation.
The process of higher dose chemotherapy is very tough and long. When chemotherapy is performed on a patient the bone marrow, the place where blood cells are created destroys completely. The stem cells that are gathered by the method of cell harvest are now put in the body of patient by a drip or injection to help the patient in coming back to normal condition. The patient is required to be hospitalized after this as he or she grows very weak after this.