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The New Atkins Diet: Healthy or Harmful?
How does my doctor decide which chemotherapy drugs to use?
This choice depends on:
- The type of cancer you have. Some types of chemotherapy drugs are used for many types of cancer. Other drugs are used for just one or two types of cancer.
- Whether you have had chemotherapy before
- Whether you have other health problems, such as diabetes or heart disease
Where do I go for chemotherapy?
You may receive chemotherapy during a hospital stay, at home, or in a doctor's office, clinic, or outpatient unit in a hospital (which means you do not have to stay overnight). No matter where you go for chemotherapy, your doctor and nurse will watch for side effects and make any needed drug changes.
How often will I receive chemotherapy?
Treatment schedules for chemotherapy vary widely. How often and how long you get chemotherapy depends on:
- Your type of cancer and how advanced it is
- The goals of treatment (whether chemotherapy is used to cure your cancer, control its growth, or ease the symptoms)
- The type of chemotherapy
- How your body reacts to chemotherapy
You may receive chemotherapy in cycles. A cycle is a period of chemotherapy treatment followed by a period of rest. For instance, you might receive 1 week of chemotherapy followed by 3 weeks of rest. These 4 weeks make up one cycle. The rest period gives your body a chance to build new healthy cells.
Can I miss a dose of chemotherapy?
It is not good to skip a chemotherapy treatment. But sometimes your doctor or nurse may change your chemotherapy schedule. This can be due to side effects you are having. If this happens, your doctor or nurse will explain what to do and when to start treatment again.
Antidepressants: Will They Help You?
 | Friday , May 7, 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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What is chemotherapy?
Chemotherapy (also called chemo) is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to destroy cancer cells.
How does chemotherapy work?
Chemotherapy works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells, which grow and divide quickly. But it can also harm healthy cells that divide quickly, such as those that line your mouth and intestines or cause your hair to grow. Damage to healthy cells may cause side effects. Often, side effects get better or go away after chemotherapy is over.
What does chemotherapy do?
Depending on your type of cancer and how advanced it is, chemotherapy can:
- Cure cancer - when chemotherapy destroys cancer cells to the point that your doctor can no longer detect them in your body and they will not grow back.
- Control cancer - when chemotherapy keeps cancer from spreading, slows its growth, or destroys cancer cells that have spread to other parts of your body.
- Ease cancer symptoms (also called palliative care) - when chemotherapy shrinks tumors that are causing pain or pressure.
How is chemotherapy used?
Sometimes, chemotherapy is used as the only cancer treatment. But more often, you will get chemotherapy along with surgery, radiation therapy, or biological therapy. Chemotherapy can:
- 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).
Breast Cancer
Taking part in cancer research
Cancer research has led to real progress in the prevention, detection, and treatment of breast cancer. Continuing research offers hope that in the future even more women with breast cancer will be treated successfully.
Doctors all over the country are conducting many types of clinical trials (research studies in which people volunteer to take part). Clinical trials are designed to find out whether new approaches are safe and effective.
Even if the people in a trial do not benefit directly, they may still make an important contribution by helping doctors learn more about breast cancer and how to control it. Although clinical trials may pose some risks, doctors do all they can to protect their patients.
Doctors are trying to find better ways to care for women with breast cancer. They are studying many types of treatment and their combinations:
- Radiation therapy: In women with early breast cancer who have had a lumpectomy, doctors are comparing the effectiveness of standard radiation therapy aimed at the whole breast to that of radiation therapy aimed at a smaller part of the breast.
- Chemotherapy and targeted therapy: Researchers are testing new anticancer drugs and doses. They are looking at new drug combinations before surgery. They are also looking at new ways of combining chemotherapy with targeted therapy, hormone therapy, or radiation therapy. In addition, they are studying lab tests that may predict whether a woman might be helped by chemotherapy.
- Hormone therapy: Doctors are testing several types of hormone therapy, including aromatase inhibitors. They are looking at whether hormone therapy before surgery may help shrink the tumor.
- Supportive care: Doctors are looking at ways to lessen the side effects of treatment, such as lymphedema after surgery. They are looking at ways to reduce pain and improve quality of life.
If you're interested in being part of a clinical trial, talk with your doctor.
The NCI Web site includes a section on clinical trials at http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials. It has general information about clinical trials as well as detailed information about specific ongoing studies of breast cancer. Information specialists at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) or at LiveHelp at http://www.cancer.gov/help can answer questions and provide information about clinical trials.
Breast Cancer At A Glance
- One in every eight women in the United States develops breast cancer.
- The causes of breast cancer are not yet fully known although a number of risk factors have been identified.
- Breast cancer is diagnosed with self- and physician- examination of the breasts, mammography, ultrasound testing, and biopsy.
- There are many types of breast cancer that differ in their capability of spreading (metastasize) to other body tissues.
- Treatment of breast cancer depends on the type and location of the breast cancer, as well as the age and health of the patient.
- The American Cancer Society recommends that a woman should have a baseline mammogram between the ages of 35 and 40 years. Between 40 and 50 years of age mammograms are recommended every other year. After age 50 years, yearly mammograms are recommended.
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