Chemotherapy and its Importance
Chemotherapy is a technique to treat cancer using drugs that kill or destroy fast growing cells. It travels through the bloodstream and reaches to all the cells of the body. In this way these powerful drugs kill the fast growing cells or cancerous cells in the body.
As the drugs travel in the body and kill the rapidly dividing cells, it also destroys the dividing hair cells and other such types of cells in the body.
Chemotherapy is done in different ways including intravenous, intraperitoneal, oral and other routes of administration.
The cost of chemotherapy in India is more affordable as compared to other developed countries. India provides world class facilities and treatment done by experienced professionals make it more reliable.
Need of Chemotherapy
The aims of chemotherapy changes depending on the type of cancer a patient has and the extent of its spread. Chemotherapy can be administered on its own or as a component of a comprehensive treatment plan. Chemotherapy is used in a variety of ways, including:
As the main course of treatment- Chemotherapy treatments occasionally aim to completely remove the cancer while preventing its recurrence.
This procedure is also known as “curative chemotherapy” as it aims to completely destroy all the cancerous cells of the body. It is usually done when the cancer is at an early stage or has not spread to the other organs.
Before additional treatments– Before undergoing surgery or radiation therapy, tumors can be reduced with chemotherapy.
This process is referred to as Neoadjuvant chemotherapy. It is done to reduce the size of the tumor so that it becomes easy to get removed by surgery.
After additional treatments- To Completely remove any remaining cancer cells, chemotherapy can be administered following surgery or radiation treatment.
The term “adjuvant chemotherapy” refers to this. This is done to prevent recurrence of cancer after surgery or radiation.
In this way any remaining cancerous cells will be destroyed and hence the chance of recurrence decreases.
Chemotherapy in addition to other treatments
In addition to chemotherapy, other drug classes such as hormone therapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy are also used to treat cancer. In a patient’s treatment plan, oncologists sometimes combine chemotherapy with another kind of medication. These drug types treat cancer in various ways, and they typically have different side effects from chemotherapy.
Hormone treatment- A type of cancer treatment known as hormone therapy involves the removal, blocking, or addition of particular hormones to the body.
Endocrine therapy or hormonal therapy are other names for it. Numerous cancers can be treated with hormone therapy.
It is usually given in the case of breast cancer in females and prostate cancer in male. As hormones play a major role in the growth of breast and prostate cancer, hormone therapy is given in such a way that it blocks the growth of tumors in the patient’s body.
Immunotherapy– This kind of treatment aids in the battle against cancer through your body’s own defenses.
In recent years, immunotherapy has advanced quickly and is now a critical component of the treatment for a number of cancer types.
This treatment helps the patient’s immune system to fight against cancerous cells and destroy them.It is one of the most advanced techniques in the field of cancer treatment.
Targeted treatment– The cancer cells’ growth-promoting genes or proteins are targeted by these treatments and rendered inactive. Numerous cancer types can be treated with targeted therapy.
Targeted drug therapy is evolving day by day and it is said to be one of the most reliable techniques in the near future.
This treatment focuses on inhibiting the growth-promoting genes and stops the cancerous cells from dividing rapidly.
