Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer using specific chemicals or drugs that poison cancerous cells and tissues. Unlike radiation therapy, which targets a specific area of cancerous cells, such as a tumor, chemotherapy is what is known as a “systemic” treatment, because it attacks cancer cells throughout the body. Chemotherapy remains one of the most powerful and effective treatments available for most forms of cancer, particularly cancers of the blood and lymphatic system (leukemia and lymphoma), and other cancers that have spread beyond their primary site to surrounding tissues, or throughout the body. (This cancerous spread is called metastasis.)

Most cancers are able to spread — or metastasize — because cancer cells divide and multiply more quickly than normal cells. Traditional chemotherapy actually poisons all of the body’s cells to some extent, but it particularly targets rapidly dividing cells, such as cancer cells. Its effect on other rapidly dividing cells (cells lining the stomach, hair follicles and red blood cells) explains common side effects of chemotherapy, such as nausea, hair loss and anemia. Many of these side effects can be lessened through the use of accompanying therapies, such as anti-nausea drugs, which greatly improve quality of life for people undergoing cancer treatment.

Chemotherapy treatment is highly individualized. The types and amounts of chemotherapy drugs used to treat a person’s cancer can vary, depending on the type of cancer, the extent of its progression and the side effects to the patient. Today, medical oncologists and hematologists (physicians who specialize in the treatment of cancer) often prescribe several chemotherapy drugs in combination, with the aim of lessening side effects while still attacking cancer cells at vulnerable times. Chemotherapy may be given alone, or along with another treatment such as radiation therapy, surgery or bone marrow transplantation.

Rush physicians are actively involved in research seeking better chemotherapy drugs, as well as ways to enhance the effectiveness of currently used chemotherapy drugs while decreasing side effects for patients. Approaches under study at Rush include combining chemotherapy with vitamins and other natural disease-fighters that boost the effects of treatment. Rush researchers are also developing experimental drugs that target cancer cells and prevent their growth by cutting off their blood supply rather than poisoning them. Other Rush studies have shown that patients with more advanced cancers can benefit from chemotherapy given before surgery, to shrink the cancer, making it easier to remove. Through these and other studies, Rush researchers are continually developing new ways lengthen and improve life for people with cancer.