Chemotherapy (also called chemo) is a type of
cancer treatment that uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. Your Oncology
Hematology Care physician will recommend the type of chemotherapy that’s best
for your particular situation. We administer chemotherapy in our offices and
also offer home infusion for appropriate patients. Your physician and care team
welcome your questions and concerns.
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.
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.
Sometimes,
chemotherapy is used as the only cancer treatment. But more often, you will get
chemotherapy along with surgery or radiation
therapy. Chemotherapy can:
- Make
a tumor smaller before surgery or radiation therapy. This is called neoadjuvant
chemotherapy.
- Destroy
cancer cells that may remain after surgery or radiation therapy. This is called
adjuvant
chemotherapy.
- Destroy
cancer cells that have come back (recurrent
cancer) or spread to other parts of your body (metastatic
cancer).
The
chemotherapy drugs your doctor chooses for you will depend 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