Radiation and chemotherapy, surgery are the main methods of combating cancer today. In some cases, they are applied separately, in some - in a complex. We will talk today about how to undergo chemotherapy. We will characterize this treatment method, the drugs used, get acquainted with the technique of administering drugs, preparing the patient for the procedure, side effects, complications and features of rehabilitation after the event.
What is this?
Chemotherapy is a method of drug treatment aimed at fighting cancer. This is the introduction into the patient's body of potent toxic drugs that can kill cancer cells and slow down their development. It is a systemic method of treatment, sometimes the only one that can save a person's life. Its peculiarity is that the drugs used kill all rapidly dividing cells in the body. And it's not just cancer. This category includes cells of hair follicles, gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow. Before you passchemotherapy, the patient must prepare for negative side effects.
How effective is the method? The question is ambiguous. The result is influenced by the degree of progression of the cancerous tumor and its localization, the age of the patient, and the individual characteristics of the body. The correct selection of the drug is also important - depending on the previous treatment, chronic diseases, contraindications, medical disorders.
Chemotherapy can be used for different purposes: control of cancer cells, their complete destruction, alleviation of the patient's condition. And another important point: before undergoing chemotherapy, the patient must prepare for the fact that this is not a single procedure, but a course of treatment. After each injection of drugs, a break of several weeks is required for the natural recovery of the body. The general average duration is 3-6 months.
The main advantages of the technique
Before undergoing chemotherapy, it is important for the patient to determine the need for such treatment. As a rule, it is assigned to the patient, based on the visible benefits:
- Drugs can partially or completely destroy cancer cells in the body.
- The method makes it possible to keep the disease under control: drugs significantly slow down the growth of oncocells, allow timely elimination of metastatic sites.
- Treatment helps to cope with pain. Medicines, destroying cancer cells, reduce the volume and size of the tumor. It stops squeezing neighboring organs, which caused painfulsensations.
- Can be used as an independent therapeutic method, as well as complex with radiation therapy and surgery.
Indications for chemotherapy
Next, we will definitely tell you how chemotherapy works in oncology. Now let's define the indications for this procedure. They depend on the following factors:
- Features of an oncological tumor: size, volume, location, stage of progression, degree of growth, expression, degree of metastasis, involvement of lymph nodes in the pathological process, etc.
- Individual characteristics of the patient: age, general he alth, presence of chronic diseases, condition of regional lymph nodes.
- Evaluation of the ratio of the effectiveness of such therapy and possible risks.
Chemotherapy is always prescribed for lesions of the lymph nodes, even if the oncology is small in size. If the cancer is non-invasive, there is no threat (or it is very small) of tumor metastasis, then such a serious treatment is not prescribed. It is replaced, for example, with hormonal therapy.
The main indications for chemotherapy are as follows:
- Cancers, remission of which is possible only after this therapy. These are leukemias, rhabdomyosarcomas, choriocarcinomas, hemoblastoses.
- Prevention of the spread of metastases, an addition to other cancer treatments.
- Transferring an oncological formation into an operable state for its further complete removal.
Howtreatment plan being drawn up?
How is chemotherapy for lung cancer? First of all, an oncologist draws up an individual treatment plan for the patient. Therapy is carried out both before the operation and after it. With special care, it is compiled for those suffering from obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.
According to statistics, a scheme made up of a combination of drugs has an efficiency of 30-65%. From one drug - 25-65%. For each of the cancers today there are ready-made standard schemes. They are indicated by abbreviations - the first letters of the Latin names of the drugs used.
There are the same requirements for the entire set of treatment regimens:
- Minimal side effects. Or one that the patient can bear.
- The drugs are selected so that there is no conflict between them. On the contrary, they should enhance the therapeutic effect of each other.
- Drugs are required to destroy all cancer cells in the patient's body. Cancer cells should not adapt to these drugs.
Preparation for treatment
Recall that chemotherapy drugs are administered not once, but in courses - every 3-5 weeks, less often - after a few months. Breaks are required, the duration of which is determined by the attending physician. Usually 4-6 courses are prescribed.
How easy is chemotherapy? Unfortunately, the procedure is always associated with side effects. But in order not to aggravate their course, it is important to pay attention to proper preparation for a new one.therapeutic course, as well as behavior after it:
- Try to drink as much liquid as possible.
- Give up alcoholic beverages.
- Avoid direct sunlight.
- Those undergoing chemotherapy are prohibited from physiotherapy, exposure to heat.
- Chemotherapy leads to a weakening of the immune system, the risk of catching an infection, a cold. In such conditions, it is not forbidden to take herbal decoctions, sulfonamides, antibiotics, antipyretic drugs.
- Before the procedure, you need to have a light snack. It is not recommended to administer the medicine on an empty or full stomach.
- Before the procedure, exclude fatty, overs alted and spicy foods from your diet.
- Following the administration of medication, meals should be regular, plentiful and balanced.
Immediate preparation for the procedure: blood donation for analysis, ultrasound examination of the liver and kidneys. Where can you get chemotherapy? The address of the recommended oncology center will also be prompted by the attending physician. Often a direction is given. However, you can choose a clinic yourself - in your locality, in other Russian cities or abroad.
How is chemotherapy for cancer?
Many patients are worried about what they will experience. Here's how chemotherapy works for cancer:
- The toxic substance is injected into the body through a thin needle inserted into a peripheral vein.
- The drug is delivered through the catheter into the central vein.
- In rare cases, a substance is injected directly through an artery into a cancerous tumor.
- Some drugs require subcutaneous or intramuscular administration.
- In some cases, the toxic drug must enter the patient's body slowly - in 2-3 days. Here, a special pump is used to inject the product, which controls the uniform introduction of the substance.
How is chemotherapy for cancer? One or another method of drug administration is chosen by the attending doctor, based on the specific features of the disease.
Chemotherapy directions
How is chemotherapy for breast and other cancers? Let's imagine a number of oncological diseases and specific chemotherapy methods for them:
- Ovarian cancer. Such treatment is used to stop metastasis, prevent recurrence, before and after surgery, to relieve pain, reduce the size of the tumor. Drugs are taken orally, injected into the abdominal cavity or intravenously.
- Stomach cancer. Medicines are administered before and after operations, chemotherapy is used as an independent treatment. The introduction of drugs is always carried out in a hospital under the supervision of specialists. There can be both tablet forms and intravenous administration.
- Breast cancer. Here, chemotherapy is usually part of a complex treatment. It should slow down the development of a cancerous tumor, the growth of pathogenic cells, stop metastasis, and prevent relapses. Most herecytotoxic agents are applicable.
- Lung cancer. The therapy is designed to completely destroy the formed cancer cells. Chemotherapy can be both independent and as part of a complex of measures. Cytostatic drugs are selected individually for each patient. As a rule, the main method of their introduction is drip. Additional medications are prescribed to alleviate side effects.
- Cancer of the rectum. Where to undergo chemotherapy in this case? Only in stationary conditions under the supervision of a chemotherapist-oncologist. The drugs are most often administered orally, in some cases intravenously. In the early stages, they completely stop the pathological process, protect against relapses.
Used drugs
How is chemotherapy going? The patient is given special anticancer drugs. The faster and more active cancer cells divide, the more effective drugs cope with them.
Drugs are divided into several groups:
- Alkylating. Fight cancer cells at the molecular level.
- Antibiotics. Some substances have antitumor effects, are able to destroy cancer cells at different stages of development.
- Antimetabolites. They block the metabolism (metabolism) in cancer cells, which leads to the death of the latter.
- Anthracyclines. Interact with the DNA of a pathogenic cell. Such "cooperation" leads to the death of the latter.
- Vinca alkaloids. Herbal anti-cancer drugs.
- Platinum preparations. The effect is similar to alkylating. Based on the effect of heavy metal atoms on a cancer cell.
- Epipodophyllotoxins. Synthetic analogue of mandrake extract with antitumor effect.
Main contraindications
There are a number of factors that put the course of treatment with chemotherapy under the ban:
- Metastases to the liver.
- High level of intoxication of the body.
- Metastases in the brain.
- High bilirubin levels.
- Cachexia.
Side effects
As we have already said, negative side effects cannot be avoided, since chemotherapy affects not only cancer cells, but also all actively proliferating cells. Therefore, it affects the hematopoietic system, digestive tract, mucous membranes of the nose, mouth, vagina, hair follicles, nails, and skin. Some side effects pass quickly, while others require a few minutes of rehabilitation.
The most common manifestations are as follows:
- Osteoporosis.
- Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
- Hair loss. After stopping treatment, alopecia ceases to manifest itself.
- Dry and sensitive skin, rashes, brittle nails.
- Anemia.
- Fatigue.
- Susceptibility to infections and viruses, weakened immune system.
- A bleeding disorder.
- Stomatitis.
- Change in smell and taste.
- Temporary or total infertility.
Complications after the procedure
In individual cases, the use of chemotherapy drugs leads to the development of complications of this series:
- Tiflit. This is inflammation of the caecum, which leads to the development of gangrene or perforation. The disease is fraught with a high level of deaths.
- Anorectal infection. Complications with the introduction of a chemical agent orally. It is observed in 8% of patients. Mortality - 20-40%.
- Pneumonia. As a rule, a complication is diagnosed when chemotherapy is prescribed to a patient with a weakened immune system.
I must say that complications do not appear often. Their main conditions are a weakened body and aggressive chemotherapy.
Rehab Diet
You now know how chemotherapy works for cancer of the breast and other organs. In order for the body to recover after such a serious impact, to maintain its normal vital activity, it is necessary to have a complete balanced diet with a predominance of protein, dairy, bakery, vegetable and fruit products.
This is the following:
- Porridges, cereals and cereal products.
- Raw and cooked fruits and vegetables. Salads, juices, fresh juices from them. Do not forget to add fresh herbs to other dishes.
- Dairy and sour-milk products should be distinguished in the diet - cheese, kefir, butter, milk, curdled milk, etc.
- Beans, meat, liver, eggs, fish, soy products should take their place in the diet.
Chemotherapy remains one of the leading methods of cancer treatment today. Includes the use of a variety of drugs, individual treatment regimens. However, they all differ in certain side effects.
