Cancer Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with drugs that destroy cancerous cells. Cancer chemotherapy began in the 1940s. Its modern use can be traced directly to the discovery of nitrogen mustard, a chemical warfare agent. Since then, cancer drug development has increased tremendously although many of the principles and limitations of early researchers on chemotherapy still apply.
Chemotherapy drugs interfere with cell division and most forms of this therapy target all rapidly dividing cells and are therefore not specific to cancer cells. However, some degree of specificity may be achieved from the inability of cancer cells to repair due to DNA damage. Normal cells will repair themselves after chemotherapy because their DNA is intact. Since cancer chemotherapy is not specific to cancer cells, it has the potential to harm healthy tissue especially those tissues that have high replacement rate for example the intestinal lining.
Some drugs work better together and therefore most chemotherapy regiments are given in a combination. This is called combination therapy. One major development in the treatment of cancer was the strategy of first reducing the burden of the tumor through surgery. This was then followed by chemotherapy to clear any remaining malignant cells.
Some leukemia and lymphomas require high dose of chemotherapy and total body irridation. This high dose may deplete the bone marrow and thus reduce the body’s ability to recover and repopulate the blood. This normally necessitates the harvesting of the bone marrow or peripheral blood stem before the cancer chemotherapy to enable rescue after the treatment has been given.
Mercy Maranga Reports on Health and Fitness issues. Visit Her Site here for more information on cancer and its treatment Cancer
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