Chemotherapy: What It Is, How It Works and Its Types

Chemotherapy is a kind of cancer treatment. As the name defines, ‘chemo’ stands for the chemical or drugs. It is a therapy that involves medications and drugs. Cancer cells grow and multiply uncontrollably. There are different types of chemotherapy, including:

• Adjuvant chemotherapy: It is a type of chemotherapy that destroys cancer cells after radiation therapy or surgery.
• Curative chemotherapy: It completely destroys cancer cells and makes sure they do not reappear.
• Neoadjuvant therapy: It drowns the tumour before radiation therapy or surgery.  
• Palliative chemotherapy: It is a type of chemotherapy that does not cure cancer permanently. It is a temporary treatment.  

Types of chemotherapy drugs

There are many different kinds of chemotherapy drugs. Each one has different mechanisms. They include,

• Alkylating agents: These drugs mainly destroy DNA cells, which are genetic material for growth and development.  
• Nitrosoureas: These are a special kind of alkylating agents that enter the brain and destroy the tumour.  
• Antimetabolites: They are the kind of chemotherapeutics that stop cells from making DNA for new cancer cells.  
• Topoisomerase inhibitors: These stop a protein called topoisomerase from functioning in the body. Topoisomerase helps cells copy DNA, allowing them to multiply into new cells.  
• Miotic inhibitors: These drugs prevent cells from dividing and stop mitosis. They are also known as plant alkaloids, as plants use natural versions of these compounds to defend themselves.  
• Antitumour antibiotics: These drugs prevent cell multiplication and damage DNA.  

Chemotherapy is given in a single medication or along with the other medications. Because each medication targets cancer cells differently, using a combination can increase the effectiveness of the treatment. Additionally, it lessens the likelihood that your body will develop drug resistance. Resistance indicates that the medications are no longer effective in the body. Chemotherapy is given based on the:

• Cancer type and stage
• Previous cancer treatments
• Current health status
• Treatment goals

Procedure details

Chemotherapy is carried out in hospitals or clinics by oncologists. The procedure is as follows:

Oncologists initially administer the chemotherapy medications intravenously, orally or topically, so that they enter the bloodstream directly.  

There are three types of chemotherapy based on the administration of drugs into the bloodstream, which are:

• Intra-arterial chemotherapy: here, drugs are administrated to a single artery.
• Intracavitary chemotherapy: It delivers drugs directly to the body cavity
• Intrathecal chemotherapy: It delivers drugs into the area between the brain and spinal cord.  

Chemotherapy can take a few minutes to hours. Some need continued infusion of drugs, and others need multiple rounds of infusion. It may be given weekly, monthly or yearly based on the stages of cancer you are in.  

Conclusion

To conclude, chemotherapy is a kind of cancer treatment which uses drugs or medications which are infused into the bloodstream through many different routes and methods. There are many types of chemotherapy medications that are given based on the type and stage of cancer. As there are many benefits, there are also risks involved in the treatments.