Chemotherapy involves the use of drugs to cure cancer. There are more than 300 drugs used for chemotherapy. Most of these drugs are quite harsh and give many side effects during the treatment. They are used to cure certain cancers where aggressive treatment is required. When one or more than one powerful drugs are used to cure the cancer, it is termed as aggressive chemotherapy. Aggressive chemotherapy might be quite effective but it can also damage some healthy cells in the body.

Aggressive chemotherapy is a widely used treatment to cure cancer as it shows positive results and diminish the cancer completely. The aggressiveness of the treatment depends upon on the cancer stage and the type of cancer. Patients’ overall health is also taken into consideration to begin aggressive chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy is a complete treatment in itself but in some cases, drugs are combined with other treatments. In many cases, chemotherapy drugs are used before or after surgery. They are also used with X-ray radiation. The drugs are administered either by injection or given orally through pills.

Side effects of aggressive chemotherapy

In many cases, aggressive chemotherapy gives severe side effects. If the drugs are, too severe it might also lead to patient’s death. Medical advisors should find a way to balance the treatment by destroying the cancer cells and preserving the healthy ones as much as possible. Most of the side effects of aggressive chemotherapy are the common side effects that most cancer patients experience. It includes chemotherapy hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, loss of appetite, to name a few.

Aggressive chemotherapy has also proved quite helpful in most cases. A research done by Barbara Asselin, M.D., at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center concluded that deaths owing to childhood leukemia have been reduced by 37% because of aggressive chemotherapy. This was also published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Leukemia chemotherapy is available to treat leukemia cancer in which different drugs are used.

Three anti-cancer drugs, methotrexate, asparaginase, and doxorubicin were administered aggressively for childhood leukemia. The drug dosage was increased up to five times the normal dosage and was administered for months in order to attain the 37% improvement. This is indeed a great improvement in the field of medicine, which aids in treating cancer.

Aggressive chemotherapy although helpful in many cases, can cure the cancer only when detected early. For example, actor Patrick Swayze, who was detected with advanced pancreatic cancer. His regime included aggressive chemotherapy and a new drug, vatalanib, to cut the supply of blood to the cancerous cells. Unfortunately, the treatment did not work out for him because of the late detection of the disease. This concludes that aggressive chemotherapy does not work in the advanced stages of cancer. But if the cancer is detected early, aggressive treatment can be chosen as the treatment for pancreatic cancer.

The aggressiveness of chemotherapy drugs depends upon specific needs of the patients. A regime for chemotherapy involves the quantity and type of drugs along with the frequency of administering the drugs. A heavy dose of the drugs combined with increased frequency is considered to be aggressive.