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Patient Story
Successful heart surgery at We Care India partner hospital allows Robert Clarke to live a normal life despite a rare genetic disorder We Care india helped Robert find best super specialised surgeon for his rare condition.
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Neurosurgery
Chemotherapy
What is Chemotherapy ?
The term chemotherapy, or chemo., refers to a wide range of drugs used to treat cancer. These drugs generally work by killing dividing cells. Since cancer cells have lost many of the regulatory functions present in normal cells, they will continue to attempt to divide when other cells do not. This feature makes cancer cells susceptible to a wide range of cellular poisons.
The chemotherapy agents work to cause cell death in a variety of ways. Some of the drugs are naturally occurring compounds that have been identified in various plants and some are man-made chemicals. A few different types of chemotherapy drugs are briefly described below. For more information on a particular type of drug, continue with this chapter or choose from the list below.
Chemotherapy is used to treat : -
- early-stage invasive breast cancer to get rid of any cancer cells that may be left behind after surgery and to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back
- advanced-stage breast cancer to destroy or damage the cancer cells as much as possible
- Make a tumor smaller before surgery or radiation therapy. This is called neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.
- Destroy cancer cells that may remain after surgery or radiation therapy. This is called adjuvant chemotherapy.
- Help radiation therapy and biological therapy work better.
- Destroy cancer cells that have come back (recurrent cancer) or spread to other parts of your body (metastatic cancer).
Chemotherapy is used to treat all stages of breast cancer, including cancer that has come back in the breast area and breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic disease). Chemotherapy treatments are tailored specifically for each person's unique situation. When deciding on which chemotherapy medicines would be best for you, you and your doctor will take into account the stage and other characteristics of the cancer, such as hormone-receptor status and HER2 status. You'll also consider your menopausal status and any other treatments you've had.
chemotherapy acts by killing cells that divide rapidly, one of the main properties of most cancer cells. This means that it also harms cells that divide rapidly under normal circumstances: cells in the bone marrow, digestive tract and hair follicles; this results in the most common side effects of chemotherapy-myelosuppression (decreased production of blood cells), mucositis (inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract) and alopecia (hair loss).
During chemotherapy you may have no side effects or just a few. The kinds of side effects you have depend on the type and dose of chemotherapy you get. Side effects vary, but common ones are nausea, vomiting, tiredness, pain and hair loss. Healthy cells usually recover after chemotherapy, so most side effects gradually go away.
Your course of therapy will depend on the cancer type, the chemotherapy drugs used, the treatment goal and how your body responds. You may get treatment every day, every week or every month. You may have breaks between treatments so that your body has a chance to build new healthy cells. You might take the drugs by mouth, in a shot or intravenously.
Chemotherapy is a kind of treatment that uses drugs to attack cancer cells. It is called a "systemic treatment" since the drug, entering through the blood stream, travels throughout the body and kills cancer cells at their sites. The drugs may rarely be intended to have a local effect, but in most cases, the intention is to destroy cancer cells wherever they may exist in the body.
Chemotherapeutic drugs are chemically designed to target cells that are dividing and growing rapidly. Once they reach the cancer cells, they act to retard their growth, eventually resulting in their destruction.
For more information, medical assessment and medical quote
send your detailed medical history and medical reports
as email attachment to
Email : - info@wecareindia.com
Call: +91 9029304141 (10 am. To 8 pm. IST)
(Only for international patients seeking treatment in India)
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