Medicine
Fact-checked

At TheHealthBoard, we're committed to delivering accurate, trustworthy information. Our expert-authored content is rigorously fact-checked and sourced from credible authorities. Discover how we uphold the highest standards in providing you with reliable knowledge.

Learn more...

What is Chemotherapy?

Brendan McGuigan
Brendan McGuigan

Chemotherapy, broadly speaking, is any regimen of therapy that makes use of chemicals to try to fight a disease. More specifically, it usually refers to a specific set of practices in which chemicals are used to help fight cancer. Since the widespread adoption of chemotherapy to fight cancer, the more general use of the term is rarely used outside of medical circles.

In the 1940s, a chemical used during wartime, nitrogen mustard, was found to be somewhat effective in treating lymphoma. Ultimately, the effects turned out to be very temporary, but it nonetheless demonstrated to the medical establishment that chemicals could be used to suppress, and perhaps even to eliminate, cancer. Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, further research was conducted on a wide array of cancers, utilizing different chemical strategies.

Chemotherapy can be administered directly into a vein.
Chemotherapy can be administered directly into a vein.

By the late 1950s, a treatment first used in the 1940s on children with leukemia was found to be effective in completely destroying a type of tumor called choriocarcinoma. This was the first great victory for chemotherapy in curing cancerous elements, and it helped push along the building enthusiasm for chemical cures for cancer. The 1950s also heralded what was perhaps the peak of the West’s idealization of chemicals of all stripes, and this general enthusiasm for modernity was a driving force behind funding and widespread support for chemotherapy.

Cancer centers have IV nurses on staff who administer chemotherapy treatments to patients.
Cancer centers have IV nurses on staff who administer chemotherapy treatments to patients.

In the mid-1960s, after a number of subsequent breakthroughs in various individual areas of cancer research, a new technique was developed that would prove to be one of the most important ever for the field of cancer research. This was combinational chemotherapy, by which a number of different chemicals were administered to attack different trouble regions and to bolster one another in the event that the cancer cells mutated to resist a single chemical. By the late 1960s, this technique had proven effective in curing a significant portion of lymphoma patients to whom it was administered.

Side effects usually experienced by chemotherapy patients include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, bleeding tendencies, hair loss and changes in menstrual cycles for women.
Side effects usually experienced by chemotherapy patients include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, bleeding tendencies, hair loss and changes in menstrual cycles for women.

Chemotherapy works by impairing the reproduction of the fastest-splitting cells, a property common in cancerous cells. Unfortunately, a number of other cells also have a high rate of mitosis, and are therefore targeted by many chemotherapy treatments as well. Hair cells are perhaps the most visible of these, as many subjects of chemotherapy lose their hair as their drug regimens attack the cells responsible for hair growth along with cancerous cells.

Depending on the case, chemotherapy drugs may be administered by IV, injection or mouth.
Depending on the case, chemotherapy drugs may be administered by IV, injection or mouth.

Chemotherapy has a number of negative side effects, including severe nausea, bowel problems, a wide range of toxic effects, hemorrhaging, and a sometimes fatal suppression of the immune system. Chemotherapy, although relatively successful, is certainly not a silver bullet for fighting cancer, and many people consider the risks and potential damage not worth the chance of cure. For all its ills, however, chemotherapy offers the best hope for many victims of cancer, and as a field it is constantly innovating and progressing.

Discussion Comments

anon1005569

I just had a radical hysterectomy: ovaries, tubes cervix, uterus. I had 3 cancer cells diagnosed in my left tube. They tell me there's a possibility of endocrine cancer! Will I have to have chemotherapy?

Ahmerus

I know someone who had breast cancer, and the doctor ordered breast cancer chemotherapy prior to a mastectomy. There was a chance that she would have to have radiation post surgery. The chemotherapy was successful and radiation was not warranted. She is cancer free.

SpecialBug

Cancer chemotherapy has come a long way since its inception. I have never had cancer, but someone close to me has. She lost her hair as expected, but the chemotherapy effects, though no picnic, were manageable. She was able to continue working, and in between chemo treatments she was able to have some enjoyment of life.

Post your comments
Login:
Forgot password?
Register:
    • Chemotherapy can be administered directly into a vein.
      By: tawesit
      Chemotherapy can be administered directly into a vein.
    • Cancer centers have IV nurses on staff who administer chemotherapy treatments to patients.
      By: Monkey Business
      Cancer centers have IV nurses on staff who administer chemotherapy treatments to patients.
    • Side effects usually experienced by chemotherapy patients include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, bleeding tendencies, hair loss and changes in menstrual cycles for women.
      By: prudkov
      Side effects usually experienced by chemotherapy patients include nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, bleeding tendencies, hair loss and changes in menstrual cycles for women.
    • Depending on the case, chemotherapy drugs may be administered by IV, injection or mouth.
      By: JPC-PROD
      Depending on the case, chemotherapy drugs may be administered by IV, injection or mouth.
    • Chemotherapy stops the spread of cancer cells by preventing them from growing and dividing.
      By: Photographee.eu
      Chemotherapy stops the spread of cancer cells by preventing them from growing and dividing.