Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Cells grow by dividing. Chemotherapy works by damaging cancer cells that are dividing. It travels around the body in the blood stream, attacking cells.
The cells most affected by chemotherapy are those which divide rapidly. This means that both cancer cells and normal cells are affected. However, normal cells are able to renew themselves quickly. Cancer cells recover more slowly and with more difficulty. The rest periods between chemotherapy treatments allow your normal cells to recover. However, as the cancer cells do not recover, more are killed with each treatment.
Key Points
- chemotherapy can be used on its own or in combination with surgery or radiotherapy depending on what type of cancer it is.
- chemotherapy is given by mouth using tablets or by injection- most commonly into a vein through the use of an intravenous drip treatment is in cycles usually lasting for several weeks or months. You have a treatment then a period of rest before the next treatment
- usually before each treatment you have blood tests done to measure the levels of different types of cells in the blood. Blood is made up of white cells (which fight infection), red cells (these carry oxygen from the lungs around the body) and platelets (these help your blood clot)
- if your blood cell levels are too low, the time between treatments may be lengthened to allow your body to get stronger or your drugs may be changed.
