Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is defined as using powerful chemical compounds as drugs to kill rapidly growing cells in the body. While chemotherapy is mostly used to treat cancer cells due to their rapid growth, it could also be used to treat bone marrow disorders and immune system diseases. Many different chemotherapeutic drugs are available in the market, which can be used alone or in combination to treat different types of cancer. Major categories of chemotherapy agents include the alkylating agents (chlorambucil, cyclophosphamide, thiotepa, and busulfan), antimetabolites (purine antagonists, pyrimidine antagonists, and folate antagonists), plant alkaloids (actinomycin D, doxorubicin, and mitomycin) and antitumor antibiotics (Doxorubicin, mitoxantrone, and bleomycin).

The chemotherapy drugs may be administered orally, or injected into a muscle (intramuscular injection), injected under the skin (subcutaneous injection), or into a vein (intravenous chemotherapy). The mode of administration of these drugs depends on the cancer types and/or the nature of the drugs. No matter what the administration method is, chemotherapy drugs exert their effects through absorption into the blood and then are carried around the body.

The primary goal of chemotherapy could be either to cure the cancer, to prepare for other treatments or ease signs and symptoms of cancer by killing rapidly dividing cancer cells. Although chemotherapy is an effective way to treat many types of cancer by killing the fast-growing cancer cells, the surrounding normal cells of the target organ system could also be killed, and hence, chemotherapy treatments carry a risk of side effects. Some of these side effects are mild and treatable (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, etc.), while others can cause serious complications, needing special attention. [Md. Ismail Hosen]