Chemotherapy is probably the best known cancer treatment. But its operation and its consequences on the body are a little less so. Here’s what you need to know about this therapy that fights tumor cells.
Destruction of cancer cells
Chemotherapy directly destroys cancer cells or prevents their reproduction. Most often, the same chemotherapy corresponds to a combination of several drugs.
Chemotherapy can be used alone or in combination with radiation therapy. The choice of molecules is adapted to each situation: each cancer is unique and requires appropriate treatment.
Chemotherapy aims to eliminate cancer cells from all parts of the body. To do this, combined drugs administered to the patient, act by destroying the malignant cells or by preventing them from multiplying.
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Physical side effects
Even if it is not systematic, hair loss is one of the most common side effects. The treatment also affects healthy cells, including rapidly dividing cells responsible for hair growth in the hair follicles. This is why these chemotherapies result in the loss of hair, but also of all appendages such as eyelashes and eyebrows, pubic and axillary hair, beard, etc.
Healthy cells affected too
“Chemotherapeutic agents destroy cancer cells, but they can also damage healthy cells. Damage to healthy cells causes side effects,” notes the Canadian Cancer Society. Among these undesirable effects, we can mention fatigue, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite, inflammation of the mucous membranes, skin changes, etc.
Note that the importance of these adverse effects is not a sign of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the treatment.
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