How Does Chemotherapy Work?
Chemotherapy is less likely to eliminate resting cells, such as the normal cells that surround cancerous cells. A patient may receive a combination of chemotherapeutic agents to assure the destruction of cancer cells. The combination may include drugs that kill cancer cells at various phases of the cell division process. Consequently, chemotherapy offers greater possibilities of destroying cancer cells than other cancer treatments such as radiation therapy or surgery.
Chemotherapy aids primarily in:
Reducing the likelihood of cancer’s spread
Reduction of existing symptoms
Reducing the body’s total number of malignant cells
Reduced tumor size
In addition to treating cancer, chemotherapy ensures the elimination of any residual or spreading cancer cells. In the case of breast cancer patients undergoing lumpectomy, the oncologist may recommend chemotherapy to reduce the likelihood of cancer relapse. Additionally, chemotherapy prepares patients for additional treatments, such as radiation therapy, by reducing the extent of a tumor. Chemotherapy is also beneficial for relieving discomfort in patients with advanced cancer. In addition, chemotherapy treats diseases of the bone marrow or other immune system disorders by preparing patients for invasive surgical procedures, such as bone marrow stem cell therapy.
Chemotherapy drugs penetrate the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body. By circulating through the bloodstream, chemotherapy medications can destroy cancer cells virtually everywhere in the body; this is referred to as systemic cancer treatment. Chemotherapy is a treatment that eliminates cancer cells by dividing them into two and then destroying both of them. The body’s tissues are composed of billions of individual cells. Once a person reaches adulthood, the majority of body cells no longer divide and proliferate frequently. Only when there is a need for repair do body cells divide. Individual cells divide into two identical cells, resulting in an increase in the number of cells from the division of a single cell.
