{"id":1214,"date":"2024-02-27T15:13:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T20:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/?post_type=chapter&p=1214"},"modified":"2026-01-03T16:16:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T21:16:38","slug":"neoplasms-chemotherapy","status":"web-only","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/chapter\/neoplasms-chemotherapy\/","title":{"raw":"Neoplasms - Chemotherapy","rendered":"Neoplasms – Chemotherapy"},"content":{"raw":"

Chemotherapy<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nChemotherapy is a type of treatment using anti-cancer drugs (i.e. anti-neoplastic drugs)<\/span> that are designed to stop cell cycling and cell growth.\u00a0 Chemotherapy is o<\/span>ften used in combination with surgery and radiation. Chemotherapy t<\/span>ypically involves two to four drugs given at intervals.<\/span>\r\n\r\nChemotherapy drugs work by blocking mitosis, or metabolism, or by directly destroying cells.\u00a0 Chemotherapy drugs i<\/span>nterfere with protein synthesis, DNA replication, and cell mitosis.\u00a0 Chemotherapy drugs include: anti-mitotics, anti-metabolites, antibiotics, and alkylating agents.<\/span>\r\n

Delivery Methods of Chemotherapy<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nDelivery methods include oral, subcutaneous, intravenous, muscle, tumor injection which can include injections into subarachnoid space, peritoneal cavity, and brain ventricles.\r\n

Benefits and Potential Adverse Side-Effects of Chemotherapy<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nPotential benefits<\/strong> of chemotherapy include eliminating tumors as well as metastases from the body which can not only potentially cure cancer, but also eliminate any problems the tumor and migrating cancerous cells were creating.\u00a0 The tumor may have been causing pain, obstruction, damage to surrounding tissues, and loss of function of surrounding tissues.\u00a0 Chemotherapy is better at eliminating metastases than both radiation therapy and surgery.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAdverse side-effects<\/strong> of chemotherapy can be both local and systemic and can be very similar to the effects of radiation therapy, as rapidly dividing cells are the most negatively affected by the treatment.\u00a0 The death of these healthy mitotic cells of the body (e.g., bone marrow, skin, GI tract, and gonads) cause adverse side effects until the body is able to replace them.\r\n\r\nChemotherapy causes temporary irritation and losses of GI mucosal cells, resulting in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, taste changes, dry mouth (xerostomia), and trouble swallowing.\u00a0 \u00a0The negative effects on the GI mucosa can lead to malnutrition, fatigue, dehydration, ulceration, and bleeding which can result in hematemesis (blood in vomit) and melena (blood in feces).\u00a0\u00a0As the irritation and loss of cells causes inflammation, the effects on the respiratory mucosa may lead to a swelling in the throat causing difficulty breathing.\r\n\r\nWithin the bone marrow, the levels of red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets being produced is negatively affected which contributes to fatigue, pallor, dizziness, increased heart rate, and susceptibility to infections and bleeding (slower clotting times).\u00a0 The reduced numbers of blood cell numbers is called bone marrow depression or myelosuppression.\u00a0 Often, chemotherapy treatments are timed to allow for blood cell numbers to recover, before the next round of chemotherapy drugs are delivered.\u00a0 Neutropenia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia can occur during chemotherapy treatments.\u00a0 The term nadir<\/strong> is used which is defined as the lowest WBC count after each treatment.\u00a0 Chemotherapy increases the risk of developing infections by opportunistic pathogens potentially resulting in oral Candida fungal infections, pneumonia or septicemia.\r\n\r\nChemotherapy affects naturally rapidly dividing epithelial cells through the body which results in hair loss (alopecia), vasculitis (damage and inflammation to blood vessels), and slow healing rates.\u00a0 The effect on gonads can cause infertility.\u00a0 The effect of chemotherapy on the bladder can cause cystitis (bladder irritation and inflammation).\u00a0 Patients may also experience stress, headaches, depression, and anxiety.\u00a0 Antiemetic drugs may be given to prevent nausea.\r\n\r\nChemotherapy drugs can cause fibrosis in the lungs, as well as damage to nephrons and myocardial cells.","rendered":"

Chemotherapy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Chemotherapy is a type of treatment using anti-cancer drugs (i.e. anti-neoplastic drugs)<\/span> that are designed to stop cell cycling and cell growth.\u00a0 Chemotherapy is o<\/span>ften used in combination with surgery and radiation. Chemotherapy t<\/span>ypically involves two to four drugs given at intervals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chemotherapy drugs work by blocking mitosis, or metabolism, or by directly destroying cells.\u00a0 Chemotherapy drugs i<\/span>nterfere with protein synthesis, DNA replication, and cell mitosis.\u00a0 Chemotherapy drugs include: anti-mitotics, anti-metabolites, antibiotics, and alkylating agents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delivery Methods of Chemotherapy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Delivery methods include oral, subcutaneous, intravenous, muscle, tumor injection which can include injections into subarachnoid space, peritoneal cavity, and brain ventricles.<\/p>\n

Benefits and Potential Adverse Side-Effects of Chemotherapy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Potential benefits<\/strong> of chemotherapy include eliminating tumors as well as metastases from the body which can not only potentially cure cancer, but also eliminate any problems the tumor and migrating cancerous cells were creating.\u00a0 The tumor may have been causing pain, obstruction, damage to surrounding tissues, and loss of function of surrounding tissues.\u00a0 Chemotherapy is better at eliminating metastases than both radiation therapy and surgery.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adverse side-effects<\/strong> of chemotherapy can be both local and systemic and can be very similar to the effects of radiation therapy, as rapidly dividing cells are the most negatively affected by the treatment.\u00a0 The death of these healthy mitotic cells of the body (e.g., bone marrow, skin, GI tract, and gonads) cause adverse side effects until the body is able to replace them.<\/p>\n

Chemotherapy causes temporary irritation and losses of GI mucosal cells, resulting in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, taste changes, dry mouth (xerostomia), and trouble swallowing.\u00a0 \u00a0The negative effects on the GI mucosa can lead to malnutrition, fatigue, dehydration, ulceration, and bleeding which can result in hematemesis (blood in vomit) and melena (blood in feces).\u00a0\u00a0As the irritation and loss of cells causes inflammation, the effects on the respiratory mucosa may lead to a swelling in the throat causing difficulty breathing.<\/p>\n

Within the bone marrow, the levels of red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets being produced is negatively affected which contributes to fatigue, pallor, dizziness, increased heart rate, and susceptibility to infections and bleeding (slower clotting times).\u00a0 The reduced numbers of blood cell numbers is called bone marrow depression or myelosuppression.\u00a0 Often, chemotherapy treatments are timed to allow for blood cell numbers to recover, before the next round of chemotherapy drugs are delivered.\u00a0 Neutropenia, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia can occur during chemotherapy treatments.\u00a0 The term nadir<\/strong> is used which is defined as the lowest WBC count after each treatment.\u00a0 Chemotherapy increases the risk of developing infections by opportunistic pathogens potentially resulting in oral Candida fungal infections, pneumonia or septicemia.<\/p>\n

Chemotherapy affects naturally rapidly dividing epithelial cells through the body which results in hair loss (alopecia), vasculitis (damage and inflammation to blood vessels), and slow healing rates.\u00a0 The effect on gonads can cause infertility.\u00a0 The effect of chemotherapy on the bladder can cause cystitis (bladder irritation and inflammation).\u00a0 Patients may also experience stress, headaches, depression, and anxiety.\u00a0 Antiemetic drugs may be given to prevent nausea.<\/p>\n

Chemotherapy drugs can cause fibrosis in the lungs, as well as damage to nephrons and myocardial cells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1370,"menu_order":17,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"Pictures coming soon!","pb_authors":["zoe-soon"],"pb_section_license":"cc-by-nc-sa"},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[60],"license":[57],"class_list":["post-1214","chapter","type-chapter","status-web-only","hentry","contributor-zoe-soon","license-cc-by-nc-sa"],"part":35,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1342,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1214\/revisions\/1342"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/35"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1214\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/pathophysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}