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Cancer Drugs |
Cancer DrugsCancer drugs include hormone therapy, chemotherapy or biological therapy/genetic treatments that are used to destroy cancerous cells in the body.
When the possibility of curing cancer are low, cancer drugs are administered that will help to prolong and improve the quality of life. The main goal of cancer drugs is to cure specific type of cancer, prevent its spreading or reoccurrence once cured, slow down or stop the tumor growth, relieve cancer symptoms such as pain, shrink tumors prior surgery or control the spread of a tumor which cannot be removed with the help of a surgery.
Chemotherapy uses drugs to avoid cancer from spreading, slow down the multiplication rate, and promote the cell to die naturally (apoptosis) and also to avoid its reoccurrence once it’s treated. It is generally used for the treatment of blood cancer, bone marrow cancer or cancer of the lymphatic system.
Administration of chemotherapy drugs will depend on the location of the tumor, type of cancer and general health condition of a patient.
Hormone therapy uses drugs that interfere with the hormone production or action, to slow down and kill the growth of cancer cells.
Targeted drug therapy may cause less harm to the healthy cells as the drugs are mainly designed to attack the cancerous cells.
Radiation therapy uses high energy rays to shrink or kill the tumor. The normal cells that are affected in the process recover in a better way than the cancerous cells.
To treat some cancers, only one type of therapy may be required, but for some a combination of therapies might be required. The type of cancer drug treatment to be used in a particular patient will depend on three things –
- Effectiveness of a particular drug alone against the cancer.
- How the cancer drug attacks the cancer cells.
- Minimum side effect of the drug on the body.
The frequency of receiving drugs will depend on –
- The treatment program or regime.
- Cycle length in regards to time and
- Number of cycles that includes a period of receiving drugs and a period of rest and recovery before the next dose is administered. Generally a cycle can be 2-6 weeks long.
Cancer drugs can be administered –
- In the form of injections – that can be intramuscular, subcutaneous, intracavitary, intra-arterial, regional perfusion or intrathecal.
- Intravenous drug in the form of a fluid drip.
- Oral drugs in the form of pills capsules or liquids.
- Tropically in the form of cream, usually for skin cancers.
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