Chemotherapy, or chemo, delivers medicine into the patient’s body to either kill cancer cells or slow their growth. Chemotherapy is most noted as a cancer treatment but may be used on noncancerous conditions as well. While treatments such as surgery and radiation physically remove or destroy the cancerous cells by targeting on the cellular level, chemotherapy works through the entire body (called systemic therapy).
Chemotherapy is used as either a stand-alone treatment or in addition to other forms of cancer treatment, such as surgery and radiation. Because chemotherapy works throughout the body, it is likely a good treatment plan for cancers that have spread to other organs and body tissue distant from the source, which means the cancer has metastasized.
Cancer specialists deliver chemotherapy to achieve one of three primary goals:
Chemotherapy drugs are classified based upon chemical composition, how they attack cancer cells and how they interact with other drugs. Knowing how the drug works helps oncologists decide how to combine the drugs to optimize a patient’s treatment.
Chemotherapy treatments consist of cycles of medication doses combined with periods of rest. A cycle is the period when the patient is regularly consuming the drug. The number of cycles and rest periods is determined based on the cancer, its stage and the overall treatment plan.
Chemotherapy can be administered in a pill form (orally), intravenously (a needle inserted into a vein), or directly into muscle tissues or spinal fluid. The method of delivery is determined by the type of drug and its directed use. For example, certain stomach enzymes easily break down types of chemo pills, so the medicine may be injected into the bloodstream instead of taken orally. The cycle and rest time are also determined based on the medicine used.
Most chemotherapy drugs are delivered either in an infusion room at a cancer treatment center or directly by an oncologist. Some forms, such as chemotherapy pills, can be taken at home.
Chemo is meant to target only cancerous cells, but sometimes healthy tissue and cells are affected in the process. This can cause side effects, which may vary according to the type of drug used.
Common side effects of chemotherapy include:
Chemo brain
Cancer patients may experience memory and cognitive problems during and after chemotherapy, which are sometimes described as a feeling of mental cloudiness. This mental fog has been coined “chemo brain.” Research has confirmed that some forms of chemo cause changes in the brain. The brain typically recovers to its previous state once chemotherapy treatments end. In rare cases, these changes can be more long term.
Some symptoms of chemo brain may include:
Managing side effects
Pain and other side effects of chemotherapy typically go away with time. However, sometimes treatment is necessary to combat the side effects of chemotherapy. This can include treating the source of pain with medicine or blocking the pain signals with spinal treatments.
It’s important to track symptoms and speak with a doctor as soon as the side effects begin to lower quality of life. Pain relief strategies might include directly treating the source of pain and changing medicine, chemotherapy cycles or spinal procedures that interfere with pain signals sent to the brain.
A blood count test measures in a blood sample the level of white blood cells (infection fighting cells), red blood cells (oxygen carrying cells), and platelets (blood clotting cells). Monitoring a patient’s blood count is imperative to reduce the risk of complications during treatment. This can be done by conducting a complete blood count (CBC).
Bone marrow, the liquid material inside bones, generates blood, and chemo can interfere with bone marrow’s ability to create blood with enough white or red blood cells, and/or platelets. If the blood count drops too low, a patient may be unable to fight infections and may experience anemia, which causes excessive fatigue, and uncontrollable bleeding.