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Chemotherapy is
the use of medicines (or drugs) to treat disease. Sometimes this
treatment is called just “chemo.” Although surgery and radiation therapy
remove, destroy, or damage cancer cells in a specific area,
chemotherapy works throughout the whole body. Chemotherapy can destroy
cancer cells that have metastasized
(spread) to parts of the body far away from the primary (original) tumor.
More than 100 chemotherapy drugs are used in various
combinations. Although a single chemotherapy drug can be used to treat
cancer, generally they work better when used in certain combinations.
Your chemotherapy treatment will likely include more than one drug.
This is called combination
chemotherapy. A combination of drugs with different
actions can work together to kill more cancer cells and reduce the
chance that the cancer may become resistant to a particular
chemotherapy drug.
You and your doctor will decide what drug or combination of
drugs you will get. Your doctor usually chooses the doses, how the
drugs will be given, and how often, and how long a treatment is best
for you. All of these decisions will depend on the type and location of
the cancer, its size, and how it is affecting your normal body
functions and overall health.
Revised: 03/08/2008
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