Chemotherapy is used to treat various cancers. In this method of treatment, different chemotherapy drugs are used to kill cancerous cells and control the reoccurrence of cancer in the patient’s body. FAC chemotherapy is a type of chemotherapy used to treat both node-negative and node-positive breast cancer in women. FAC is an acronym for combination of the three drugs, which are found effective in treating breast cancer. These three drugs include fluorouracil (5FU), Adriamycin (doxorubicin) and cyclophosphamide.

In FAC chemotherapy, each drug attacks the cancerous cells in slightly different ways. Fluorouracil (5FU) is made up slightly different molecules than that of the normal cells. This fluorouracil makes its way into cancer cells and stops their functioning. As soon as the functioning of the cancer cells stop, they die. Cancer treatment using Adriamycin (doxorubicin) chemotherapy  blocks DNA production in the cells as well as inhibits enzymes responsible for repairing the DNA. Cancer cells die, as they require DNA to survive. However, Adriamycin targets both cancer cells as well as normal healthy cells. But as the cancer cells replicate rapidly, it has greater impact on them than your normal cells. Cyclophosphamide is attached to the DNA of the cancer cells. After this, the cancer cells are tangled up and are unable to replicate themselves.

FAC Chemotherapy Regimen

FAC chemotherapy treatment is given by a trained health care provider. It is usually given by injecting the medicine into the vein. The dosage of the treatment is based on several factors such as your height and weight along with the stage of your cancer. Based on these, the doctor would decide the regime of the treatment that would be administered to the patient. There are certain side effects of these treatments, which can also be dealt with on proper consultation with your doctor. This treatment is given in the form of pills or intravenous injections. This treatment is given in cycles, which last for about four to five months. The duration of each cycle is about four weeks.

There is another way of FAC chemotherapy administration. In this method, all three drugs (fluorouracil, adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide) are given simultaneously through a drip into your arm or hand. This FAC chemotherapy cycle is repeated for every three weeks, four to six times, making the duration of the treatment to about 2 to 3 1/2 months.

FAC Chemotherapy Side Effects

As like other chemotherapies, FAC chemotherapy also has some side effects associated with them. When you begin the FAC chemotherapy treatment, your white blood cell count goes down. If your white blood cell count is not high enough, your doctor will delay your next chemotherapy cycle until your white cells have built themselves back up to normal level.

Other side effects associated with FAC chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, hair loss, memory loss, heart damage, increased risk of infection, unpleasant taste in mouth, throat and mouth sores, eye irritation, bladder irritation, loss of fertility, chance of sunburn, bruising, or bleeding.  Chemotherapy fatigue  is also a side effect of FAC chemotherapy.

However, this is an overview of FAC chemotherapy. Patients do not get every side effect and many patients experience very few of them. You may experience none of the listed side effects other than hair loss or you may experience some other side effects. .whatever you experience, inform your doctor and they would help you accordingly.