Chemotherapy
The use of anticancer drugs to slow or stop the growth of rapidly dividing cancer cells in the body is known as chemotherapy. The shortened term of it is chemo. An oncologist can remove, kill or damage cancer cells in a certain area by surgery and radiation therapy, but chemotherapy can work throughout the whole body. It is a very effective way to kill cancer cells that have spread (metastasized) to body parts, which are far away from the primary tumour.
Goals of chemotherapy treatment
You must understand the goals of chemotherapy treatment before taking treatment decisions if your doctor sends you to a chemotherapy specialist in Kolkata. The main goals of chemotherapy treatment are the following:
- Cure. The cure for cancer is the goal of chemotherapy. This means to ensure that the cancer is completely destroyed and will not come back. However, you often come to know if a person’s cancer is really cured or not after many years.
- Control. The goal of chemotherapy is to control the disease if a cure is not possible. The shrinking of tumours and stop the growth and spread of cancer is the purpose of chemotherapy in Kolkata. The cancer patient will feel better and live longer as a result of this.
- Palliation. In some cases, giving a patient relief from the symptoms of cancer is the goal of chemotherapy. When it is used for this purpose, it is called palliative chemotherapy or palliation.
The decision of the type of drug or combination of drugs is taken by you and your oncologist in Kolkata. The selection of the doses, the process of giving the drugs and the frequency and the duration of the treatment is decided by the doctor. Based on a number of factors like the cancer type, cancer stage, the age and overall health condition of the patient and the past cancer treatments, the doctor chooses which drugs to use. This, in turn, helps to decide the cancer dose.