Chemotherapy is a drug treatment used to either destroy the cancer cells, or minimise their spreading. A combination of different drugs is usually given, sometimes as tablets, but more often by injection, or by a drip.
Sometimes a treatment plan may call for continuous chemotherapy, in which case you will be fitted with a small, portable infusion pump.
Chemotherapy may be used when it is not possible to remove the cells through surgery, or surgery is not an option. It is sometimes also used to slow the spread of the disease, prevent spreading or shrink the tumour before surgery. It can also be used to relieve pain.
Chemotherapy will be given either as an outpatient or as an inpatient treatment.
Treatments are given in consecutive doses over a number of months, with rest periods in-between. The rest periods are there to allow your body to recover from the side effects of the treatment.
Side effects
Chemotherapy can cause different side effects. This is because the toxic drugs that are given to fight the cancer also have an effect on some other normal cells in the body. The possible side effects of your particular treatment should be explained to you.
Chemotherapy temporarily decreases the production of new blood cells. You will have a blood test before each treatment. If you have too few white blood cells, your body will find it more difficult to fight infections, so your next session of chemotherapy must wait until blood cell production has recovered.
Side effects such as nausea and vomiting can be controlled with medication, so it is important to let the medical staff know if you experience them.
Other side effects can include hair loss, tiredness and a lowering of immunity.
There are medicines and complementary therapies which can help reduce some of these unwanted effects.
People’s sex lives can also be affected. Also, some types of chemotherapy can affect fertility either temporarily or permanently. If this is likely to happen to you, it is usually possible to store eggs and sperm before treatment begins.
It is important to raise any questions or concerns you have about this as early as possible. Your doctors should be able to advise you about this, or you can talk it over with trained professionals and volunteers on the Macmillan CancerLine.