Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy drugs, are sometimes feared because of a patient's concern about toxic effects. Their role is to slow and hopefully halt the growth and spread of a cancer. There are three goals associated with the use of the most commonly-used anticancer agents.

1. Damage the DNA of the affected cancer cells.

2. Inhibit the synthesis of new DNA strands to stop the cell from replicating, because the replication of the cell is what allows the tumor to grow.

3. Stop mitosis or the actual splitting of the original cell into two new cells. Stopping mitosis stops cell division (replication) of the cancer and may ultimately halt the progression of the cancer.

Unfortunately, the majority of drugs currently on the market are not specific, which leads to the many common side effects associated with cancer chemotherapy. Because the common approach of all chemotherapy is to decrease the growth rate (cell division) of the cancer cells, the side effects are seen in bodily systems that naturally have a rapid turnover of cells iincluding skin, hair, gastrointestinal, and bone marrow. These healthy, normal cells, also end up damaged by the chemotherapy program.