Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is also known as “chemo.” Although surgery and radiation therapy remove, destroy, or damage cancer cells in a specific area, chemotherapy works throughout the body. Chemotherapy can destroy cancer cells that have metastasized, or spread to parts of the body far away from the primary (original) tumor.

More than 100 chemotherapy drugs are used in various combinations. Although a single chemotherapy drug can be used to treat cancer, generally they are more powerful when used in combination with other drugs. Your chemotherapy treatment probably will consist of more than one drug. This is called combination chemotherapy. A combination of drugs with different actions can work together to kill more cancer cells and reduce the chance that you may become resistant to a particular chemotherapy drug.

Chemotherapy treatments are administered usually as an out-patient but occasionally it is done as an in-patient.  Medications are often given intravenously but some can also be given orally or by injection into a muscle.  Certified oncology nurses are responsible for administering these medications as well as providing education for the prevention and treatment of the side effects.

You and your doctor will decide what drug or combination of drugs, what dosages, how it will be given, and what frequency and length of treatment are best for you. All of these decisions will depend on the type and location of the cancer, the extent of its growth, and how it is affecting your normal body functions and overall health.