Plant alkaloids block cell division. They may be given at any time during the cell cycle but may be most effective during specific stages of cell development.
Chemotherapy drugs target fast-growing cells. Cancer cells grow quickly and erratically, making them prime targets for this type of aggressive drug treatment. Healthy, normal cells that are fast growing are also affected by chemotherapy drugs.
These include:. The effect of chemo on healthy cells can cause many side effects. Various factors may affect the intensity of these side effects, including:. Chemotherapy drugs may also be used to target tumors in a specific area of the body. These localized delivery systems may use slow-dissolving disks containing chemo drugs or other mediums of delivery:. Targeted chemotherapy delivery systems may cause localized side effects at the tumor site, such as swelling or bleeding. Cancer treatments are not one-size-fits-all.
The chemotherapy plan that is best for you will be one that treats cancer effectively and gives you time to recover between treatments. Limiting the intensity and duration of side effects is part of that goal.
Your doctor will work out a chemotherapy plan with you, based on multiple factors. A course of chemotherapy typically lasts from 3 to 6 months but that is just a starting estimate. Your treatment plan may require more or fewer rounds of treatment over longer periods of time. Treatment cycles typically consist of four to six rounds of chemo. These may be given on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. You will then have a resting period before the next round of treatments begin.
Continuous infusion treatments can last for several days. These are typically started in a hospital or outpatient chemotherapy setting and continued at home. The spacing out of treatments gives your body time to heal. It also helps ensure that cancer cells are targeted at the optimum time during the cell cycle.
You and your doctor will want to know if your chemo treatment plan is working. To gauge this, you will continue to be monitored during treatment. You will see your doctor for scans and testing, usually right before and right after treatments.
This will help determine if your treatment plan is effective. During treatment, you may see less visible lymph node swelling. You may also feel less pain or have more energy. Testing is the only way to know for sure.
The tube goes into the CSF in a cavity of your brain. The Ommaya stays in place under your scalp until treatment is done. In intra-arterial treatment, the chemo drug is put right into the main artery that supplies blood to the tumor. It might be used to treat a single area such as the liver, an arm, or leg. This method helps the treatment be more specific to one area and can help limit the effect the drug has on other parts of the body.
Chemo drugs may be given through a catheter into an enclosed area of the body such as the bladder called i ntravesicular or intravesic al chemo , the abdomen or belly called intraperitoneal chemo , or the chest called intrapleural chemo. The drug is put into a muscle through a needle that's attached to a syringe as an injection or shot.
A needle is used to put the drug right into a tumor. The chemo is put right into the bladder through a soft catheter. It stays in for a few hours and is then drained out, and the catheter is removed.
Some places may have private treatment rooms, while others treat many patients together in one large room.
Ask your doctor or nurse about this ahead of time so you know what to expect on your first day. Children may have different levels of sensitivity to the drugs, too. Besides doses being different for children, dosages of some drugs may also be adjusted for people who:. Chemotherapy is commonly given at regular intervals called cycles. A cycle may be a dose of one or more drugs on one or more days, followed by several days or weeks without treatment.
This gives normal cells time to recover from drug side effects. Sometimes, doses may be given a certain number of days in a row, or every other day for several days, followed by a period of rest. Some drugs work best when given continuously over a set number of days. Each drug is given on a schedule that makes the most of its anti-cancer actions and minimizes side effects.
If more than one drug is used, the treatment plan will say how often and exactly when each drug should be given. The number of cycles given may be decided before treatment starts, based on the type and stage of cancer. In most cases, the most effective doses and schedules of drugs to treat specific cancers have been found by testing them in clinical trials.
This gives a person the best chance of getting the maximum benefit from treatment. Sometimes, you might be given supportive medicines to help your body recover more quickly. Some medications can be given as an injection into the muscle and still others are absorbed when given directly into the bladder or the abdominal cavity.
Oral chemotherapy medications - those that can be swallowed - come in a variety of oral forms pills, tablets, capsules, liquid , all of which can be absorbed by the stomach or under the tongue. Intravenous administration of therapy medication allows for rapid entry into the body's circulation, where it is carried throughout the body in the blood stream. This is the most common method of chemotherapy administration, since most chemo drugs are easily absorbed through the blood stream. Intravenous administration offers the most rapid absorption time of all currently available methods and the most versatile.
IV methods also enable more flexibility with drug dosing. Doses can be given as an IV bolus lasting from a few minutes to a few hours. Continuous infusions can be given over a few days or for weeks at a time. Portable pumps allow medication to be given at a slow continuous rate allowing for on going IV absorption of the medication.
Intravenous medications are given directly into the blood stream through a variety of methods. Intraventricular or intrathecal chemotherapy is used when drugs need to reach the cerebrospinal fluid CSF , the fluid that is in the brain and spinal cord. The body's blood-brain barrier does not allow many chemotherapy drugs given systemically through the whole body to get to the CSF.
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