To understand what chemotherapy is, you must know that it is defined as a treatment based on drugs prescribed by an oncologist to destroy cancer cells. It is administered intravenously and generally brings positive results for the patient.

Chemotherapy sessions are necessary if, although there are side effects, it is a type of treatment that inhibits or even stops the acceleration of tumour cell division. In other words, it is responsible for stopping the growth of a malignant tumour.

How is the medication applied?

On the day of admission of the patient in a more advanced stage of cancer, chemotherapy is administered by medical request. This administration can be for just 30 minutes or for hours, depending on the stage of the tumour and how the patient responds to the drugs.

In some cases, the patient has to have chemotherapy for days or only needs one or two applications. There are some people who prefer to administer it at home, which is usually the case of people who hire the services of a nurse so that they do not have to travel frequently to the place where it is administered.

The elderly are those who most receive medication at home, in agreement with the family, who see this option as a way of making treatment less stressful.

How can I answer someone about what chemotherapy is?

People often only emphasise the side effects, but it is important to explain that it is thanks to chemotherapy that a tumour can be reduced. It is also worth explaining that between one chemotherapy session and another, there is always a period of rest. In this way, it is possible to allow the body to rest from the effects it suffers due to the medication.

What is chemotherapy as regards prophylaxis?

Answering the question know what chemotherapy is in the context of prophylaxis, one needs to dig a little deeper into understanding how cancer forms.

First of all, it is important to point out that it is chemotherapy that will attack the cancer cells. So, one should not be afraid of it. It is a chance for a cure. Without it, the abnormal cells will continue to grow and the tumour will invade other tissues, such as those of crucial organs like the lung, bones, brain and even the blood.

In the course of the sessions, carcinoma growth factors attach themselves to the cells' receptors. This is what makes them begin to have an abnormal process of mitosis, cell division followed by cell multiplication. This division is disorganised, and so a mass alien to the cells of the organ, called a tumour, in the case of carcinoma, malignant. Thus, those responsible for the growth of the tumour are the growth factors fixed on the receptors of the cells, in other words, they are what favour the cancer to spread. It is at this moment of proliferation and enlargement that metastasis occurs: when the cancer reaches organs other than the one in which it originated.

What is chemotherapy in the sense of side effect?

The drugs used are very active and, when they act, they have effects on all the cells, which causes non-cancerous cells to be affected as well. That is why the treatment causes reactions such as significant hair loss and nausea, varying from person to person, because the dosages of the drugs vary from one individual to another and, at the same time, each body has unique metabolism characteristics.

In hypothesis, if the same dosage is applied in two patients, the reactions will be different due to the metabolism of each having unique functioning and processing capacity.

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Sources:

https://www.inca.gov.br/perguntas-frequentes/o-que-e-quimioterapia

http://www.oncoguia.org.br/conteudo/consideracoes-basicas-sobre-a-quimioterapia/3704/593/

https://www.inca.gov.br/perguntas-frequentes/quais-os-efeitos-colaterais-da-quimioterapia

https://www.inca.gov.br/perguntas-frequentes/quimioterapia

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