Chemotherapy Efficacy
Chemotherapy efficacy is high, which makes it one of the most recommended methods of treatment for the cancer patients. Chemotherapy is one of the methods of treatment for cancer. It involves the usage of drugs to kill the cancer cells. These drugs are injected into the blood stream to react with cancer cells and eventually destroy them. However, the healthy cells are also destroyed in this process, as these drugs fail to differentiate between the cancerous and the healthy cells. This leads to different side effects.
Despite all the adversities chemotherapy is proved to be most beneficial as the drugs reach the cancer cells directly through the blood stream. The new targeted therapy aims at the unique feature of cancer cells thus unleashing the normal cells. Use of monoclonal antibody, with or without erlotinib, directs the antibodies to bind to the epidermal growth factors which are very characteristic of the cancer cells. This shields the normal cells and affects only the cancer cells. But, we have to note that not all patients are prescribed erlotinib chemotherapy while undergoing targeted therapy. Another method of treatment is the usage of anti angiogenesis chemotherapy drugs. Anti angiogenesis drugs stop the formation of blood vessels that is required to nourish the cancer cells. Cancer cells thus being devoid of ample nutrition starve and die.
Chemotherapy efficacy is also determined by the stages of cancer. Chemotherapy treatment for stage 4 breast cancer or other types of cancers in their advanced stages, can be toxic . It is typical that patients lose their capability to fight any invasion or infection when in advanced stages and often give away under the toxicity of chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy has proved to be a beneficial method of treatment for testicular cancer, hodgkins lymphoma, childhood leukemia, and choriocarcinoma. Patients often encounter typical symptoms like hair fall, anemia, low immunity, nausea and diarrhea after chemotherapy. However, these subside once the chemotherapy is completed.
Systemic chemotherapy requires infusing the drug directly into the blood stream. This mode often causes some uncomfortable side effects like bruising, bleeding, rashes etc. It is advised to consult the doctor if any of these are observed. Alao, take some tips from the doctor to avoid them during the treatment.
Though chemotherapy involves the usage of highly toxic drugs, it has been proved overwhelming to cure the rarest to most populous form of cancer. Though the chemotherapy efficacy involves some side effects during or sometimes after the treatment, there are many success stories where cancer once detected at an earlier stage could be efficiently cured.