Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy: Treatment of cancer using drugs/use of drugs that have direct tumor-killing properties; drugs that are specifically designated as part of hormone therapy and immunotherapy are sometimes included.

Aim of Chemotherapy

To cure or
To maintain long term remission (free of disease) or
To increase the effectiveness of surgery or radiotherapy, or
To help control pain or other symptoms

Chemotherapy is an area of treatment that is constantly changing and developing. These tests include new anticancer drugs, new combinations of drugs, and "old" combinations of drugs on untested types of cancer, as well as various combination treatments involving drugs with surgery and/or radiation.

Chemotherapy is most effective against cancers that divide rapidly and have a good blood supply.

Chemotherapy may be given as a single drug or a combination of drugs. Combinations have been developed for several reasons: Different drugs attack the cancer cells in different ways; some drugs may make other drugs more potent; combinations help to avoid the problem of cancer cells becoming "immune" or resistant to a certain drug; for many kinds of cancer, a combination of drugs (each one of which is effective in attacking that kind of cancer) provides more effective cancer-kill with fewer harmful effects on healthy tissues.

Administering Chemotherapy

How a drug will be administered depends on the most effective way to treat your cancer and on the chemical properties of the drug. Some drugs, for example, cannot get into the bloodstream through the stomach -- they must be injected directly into the bloodstream; these would have no effect if you took them in pill form. The duration of treatment is tailored to fit each individual's situation.

How Chemotherapy Works

Drugs that are effective in treating cancer interfere with the activity of cancer cells, either by going in directly to sabotage a specific phase of cell development or by sending confusing messages that cause the cells to do the wrong thing and thereby destroy themselves. Not all drugs are effective against all cancers, and the different groups of drugs act in different way.

• Alkylating agents: Interfere with cell division and affect the cancer cells in all phases of their life cycle. They confuse the DNA by directly reacting with it.
• Anti-metabolites: Interfere with the cell's ability for normal metabolism; they either give the cells wrong information or block the formation of "building block" chemical reactions which the cell needs to replicate itself.

These are phase-specific drugs--they only work in one phase of the cell's life cycle.

• Vinca Alkaloids (plant alkaloids). Naturally occurring chemicals that stop cell division in a specific phase.
• Antibiotics: Also made from natural substances that interfere with cell division; they can affect cancer cells in all phases of their life cycle and interfere with DNA synthesis.
• Hormones: Substances that occur naturally in the human body; they give messages that either encourage or stop growth or activities in certain cells or organs. There are two types of hormones: sex, or steroid, hormones, and gluco-corticoid hormones. The sex hormones act on a very specific group of tissues and are useful in treating cancers of the prostate, breast, uterus, and kidney. Gluco-corticoid hormones act on a wide variety of tissues and organs and have been used to treat Hodgkin's disease; lymphocytic and histolytic lymphoma; lymphoblastic, lymphocytic, and acute myelogenous leukemia; and multiple myeloma.
• Miscellaneous Drugs--those that don't fit into any of the other categories.

Experimental chemotherapy. A number of new experimental chemotherapy drugs being developed and are undergoing human testing. You may be invited to participate in a clinical study of experimental chemotherapy if it is an appropriate option for cancer.

obtained from BCCA Information Database

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