Understanding Chemotherapy

Farah Husyn
Senior
School of Life Sciences
Independent University, Bangladesh

March 21st, 2017

Due to advances in technology, early cancer survival rate has doubled in the past 40 years. There are surgeries, radiation treatments and chemotherapies to treat cancer. In order to understand chemotherapy we first need to understand what cancer is. It is a disease which causes the body cells to divide rapidly and uncontrollably. It may start anywhere on the body and spread to other tissues. But all abnormally dividing cells do not lead to cancer and many form completely benign growths and tumours. There are more than 200 different types of cancers.

Though cancer does not have any specific cure, chemotherapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer. In chemotherapy, various anti-cancer drugs are used to treat the disease. Chemotherapy stops or slows down the growth of cancer by specifically targeting rapidly dividing cells. It is a systemic treatment, which means it affects the entire body. This treatment may be given alone or along with other treatments such as radiation and surgery.

The history of chemotherapy is interesting and rather surprising. During World War II mustard gas was used as a chemical weapon. The US army was trying to find a more effective gas to use in their warfare and, ironically, they found the chemicals in mustard gas to work against a type of cancer, saving lives. After being discovered in this manner, chemotherapeutic drugs are now a multibillion-dollar industry.

Cancer survival rates over time. Macmillan

Depending on the type and severity of cancer, the cost of 8 weeks of chemotherapy treatment can range from $100-$30,000 or more. Chemotherapy may completely cure the patient by destroying all cancer cells, or simply prolong their life span for a few more months or years if some cancer cells remain. It can also be co-administered with surgery or radiation to improve the efficacy of these treatments.

Chemotherapy is generally delivered by injecting it inside veins. It can also be taken orally. It is usually a long and continuous process. If the dose of chemotherapy is not too high or complex then patients do not need to be hospitalized and may receive the treatment at home or during visits.

But everyone does not react to chemotherapy the same way. They react differently to chemotherapeutic treatments depending on their type of cancer and personal fitness. Patients need to be fit enough to take the treatment. Before suggesting chemotherapy various organs are checked as chemotherapy puts strain on the body.

There are many side effects of chemotherapy. While destroying the rapidly diving cancerous cells, chemotherapy also hampers healthy cells of the body that happen to be dividing rapidly, such as hair cells, resulting in hair loss. Immune cells, our body’s defenses against pathogens, are generated from rapidly dividing blood cells in the bone marrow. Chemotherapy therefore also results in immune suppression, increasing susceptibility to infectious diseases. Other common side effects include pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, and loss of appetite. The side effects can be treated separately and this form of treatment is known as palliative care. There is also a risk of developing a different type of cancer for cancer survivors after using chemotherapy. Usually the side effects disappear after the treatment is finished but some might be long lasting.

Many people think that chemotherapy causes a lot of harm without being effective at treating cancer. But there are two very important things that we need to keep in mind. Firstly, cancer does not have any definitive cure till date. Secondly, there are hundreds of types of cancers. Each type reacts to treatments differently. Chemotherapy happens to employ a mechanism that is effective in most cases, but may fail due to other factors. Researchers are still trying to find more effective ways of treating and curing cancer.

Farah Husyn is a senior year student at SLS, and has already started to miss IUB. Her one and only passion is reading books. She wishes to be a millionaire in the not too far future.