Drugs which aim to destroy malignant cells. Always given multi-drug.
Anticancer given as primary therapy if the tumor is known to be sensitive to chemotherapy, or when surgery or radiation can not be done.
The purpose of giving anti-cancer (chemotherapy) in a patient can be for:
- Curative: to obtain complete remission and cure the patient, for example in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
- Palliative: to reduce symptoms but with little hope of obtaining complete remission or cure (eg, esophageal cancer, where chemotherapy is used to reduce dysphagia).
- Adjuvant: to improve the chances of cure or to prolong disease-free survival without cancer were detected, but there are a number of suspected subclinical cancer cells (eg, chemotherapy for breast cancer or colorectal cancer after surgical resection).
The side effects of anticancer drugs (which is related to the normal cells that proliferate rapidly):
Bone marrow depression:
- Leukopenia and infection.
- Immunosuppression.
- Thrombocytopenia.
- Anemia.
- Oral or intestinal ulcers.
- Diarrhea.
- Nausea, vomiting.
Gonads: menstrual disorders, including premature menarche, disruption of spermatogenesis.
Luka: impaired healing.
Fetus: teratogenesis, especially in the first half.
Side effects are not dependent on cell proliferation:
- Bleomycin: pulmonary fibrosis, pneumonitis.
- Busulfan: pulmonary fibrosis.
- Doxorubicin, daunorubicin: cardiotoxic.
- Cisplatin: nephrotoxic, ototoxic, peripheral neuropathy.
- Cyclophosphamide: hemorrhagic cystitis.
- Vincristine: neurotoxic.
- Cytarabine: brain damage, ototoxic.
- The combination of anticancer generally designed so that no overlapping toxicities.