Cancer is a serious disease and at some point, of life it can afflict both men and women alike. This disease does not discriminate between genders. Anyone can be the victim of cancer. This disease has many forms and the most famous forms are breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia cancer, lung cancer, and many others.
Most people are lucky in a sense that doctors catch their cancer in first few stages. In first few stages like stage 1 and stage 2 of cancer it is relatively easy for doctors to treat this disease but as the cancer progresses it becomes difficult for doctors to cure the patient of cancer. There are certain methods, which doctors use to treat the patients who are suffering from any form of cancer. Treatment methods, which are available for cancer patients, are surgery, in which doctors removes the cancerous tumor, which is taking shape in any area of a patient’s, body.
The Other treatment is radiation in which doctors use radiation to shrink or kill the cancerous cells. The last but effective method is chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
Chemotherapy is an effective method to cure or treat the cancer patients. In this treatment, doctors give certain drugs to patients who are suffering from any form of cancer. Doctors make sure that they give those drugs, which have the potential to either fight or kill the cancerous cells, which are taking form in a patient’s body, in any area. Once doctors administer the drugs inside a patient’s body, these drugs then fight or kill the cancerous cells. Chemotherapy is a drug treatment and it is very effective.
Chemotherapy Treatment for cancer
Chemotherapy is the drug treatment. In chemotherapy, doctors administer different drugs in patients’ body. They administer these drugs either via vein or through another method, which is oral chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
In oral chemotherapy treatment for cancer, a patient who is suffering from cancer undergoes 8 cycles of chemotherapy treatment. In these 8 cycles doctors give different drugs to patients with a break in between.
Doctors give chemotherapy treatment to cancer patients either before surgery to shrink or remove the tumor or either after surgery to fight or kill the cancerous cells which stays behind. Chemotherapy treatment is an effective treatment and doctors use this treatment to cure the patient who is in the last stages of cancer. In the last stages of Cancer, chemotherapy is the best treatment and there are cases when chemotherapy treatment actually heels the cancer patients.
Types of chemotherapy
Doctors give different forms of chemotherapy treatment to treat define patients. There is no thing as types of chemotherapy. There are only different drugs, which doctors choose to treat the cancer patients. In chemotherapy, treatment, which drugs doctors will use to treat the patients who are suffering from cancer, depends upon the type of cancer or the stage of cancer. There are more than 100 anticancer drugs, which are available in the market for the cancer patients, and doctors make sure that they give a combination of these drugs to patients who are suffering from cancer.
There are cases when doctors use a single drug to treat a person who is suffering from any form of cancer and there are cases when doctors use the combination of different drugs to treat the cancer patients. Which drugs doctors will use depends upon the location of cancer in a patient body or the stage of cancer?
Types of chemotherapy Drugs
Alkylating Agents
The first anticancer drug was from this agent and still most of the drugs, which are anticancer in nature, have the alkaline factor in it. These are the most common drugs, which doctors use in chemotherapy to treat the cancer patients. Alkylating agents directly affects the DNA of abnormal cancerous cells. They break the bond, the DNA Bond between cancerous cells. This way they prevent the cells from dividing and if the cell does not divide this mean that a person is safe from the abnormal growth of cancerous cells. Doctors use these types of chemotherapy drugs to treat patients who are in the first few stages of cancer. The famous drugs, which belong to this category, are chlorambucil, cyclophosphamide, thiopental, and busulfan.
Antimetabolites
Cells need different nutrition to survivor inside the human body. When doctors choose Antimetabolites as a treatment for cancer, they make sure that they give the patient the best combination of Antimetabolites. These drugs have the potential to starve the cancerous cells to death. These drugs alter the enzymes, which give nutrition to cells, and this way these drugs starve the cancerous cells to death. When the cancerous cells do not get the nutrition, they require surviving they automatically dies down.
Plant Alkaloids
These are other forms of drugs, which doctors use in chemotherapy treatment for cancer.The practitioners of these drugs derive them from different plants and plant alkaloid has amazing qualities. They can attack the cancerous cells in the best way and they are best for chemotherapy treatment for cancer. They are all natural in nature and that is why they are the best drugs, which doctors administer to cure the cancer patients.
Topoisomerase Inhibitors
There are different types of chemotherapies, which are out there. One such chemotherapy treatment is Topoisomerase inhibitors. These drugs interfere with the enzymes of the cell thus preventing their growth inside a human body. Doctors use this chemotherapy treatment to cure cancers including lung cancer, breast cancer, and leukemia. Famous drugs, which doctors use in this chemo, are Topotecan Irinotecan (CPT-11). These drugs are effective in treating cancer but they do pose dangers to a person who is going through this type of chemotherapy. These inhibitors can increase the risk of second cancer, which is acute myelogenous Leukemia.
Corticosteroids
Chemotherapy is an effective treatment to cure the cancer patients. There are different chemotherapy treatments, which are available for fighting or killing the cancerous cells. One such treatment is corticosteroids. This type of treatment uses hormones or hormones like drugs to treat the cancer patients. Corticosteroids are steroids and they are effective to treat certain cancers. They are effective in killing and fighting the cancerous cells and doctors use it these drugs widely to make more chances of Survival for the cancer patients so these drugs include.
- Prednisone
- Methylprednisolone (Solumedrol®)
- Dexamethasone (Decadron®)
There are some other benefits for the people who are going through this kind of chemotherapy. Corticosteroids can also aide in soothing the side effects of chemo. These steroids can be beneficial if patients who are going through chemotherapy experience nausea and vomiting. Doctors also use these steroids before chemotherapy as well to make it all easy for the cancer patients. Chemotherapy is an effective treatment for cancer patients. The administration of drugs has the positive effect on the patient’s body. Chemotherapy does have certain side effects. A person who is going through chemotherapy can lose either all or few of their hairs. A person who is going through chemo can experience the extreme feelings of nausea or vomiting. The patient who is going through chemotherapy can also complain about the tingling of different nerves in a body. Chemotherapy also destroys the normal cells by destroying the abnormal cancerous cells but it is the best treatment out there for cancer patients. This disease is dangerous in nature and we should all make sure that health is our first priority by going regularly to the doctor for regular check-up. This is the only way to make sure that our body is cancer free.