Chemotherapy used in cancer treatment today

Chemotherapy is considered a systematic treatment as the drug travels throughout the body and kills the cancer cells that have affected the parts of the body away from the original tumour. This makes it different from other treatments like radiation and surgery. Radiation therapy is aimed at a specific part of the body to damage or kill the cancer cells while surgery removes a tumour from the body where the cancer is found.

“Chemo” refers to the use of any drug to treat any disease. But to many people, the word chemo means drugs used for cancer treatment. Chemotherapy may be used alone as a primary treatment for cancer or with a combination of other treatments like surgery, radiation therapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy. How the chemotherapy is used depends on the type and severity of cancer. In some cases like breast cancers, chemotherapy can be done before the surgery to try and shrink the tumour while in other cases, it can be done after the surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells.

Curing Cancer with Chemotherapy

The best chemotherapy doctors in Mumbai try to use it to cure cancer. Once destroyed with chemotherapy, the chances of cancer coming back are very thin. Although curing cancer with chemotherapy is the goal in most cases, it does not necessarily work out that way. It often takes years to find out if the patient is really cured of cancer. The type of drugs used and the cost of chemotherapy in Mumbai depends on the type and the stage of cancer.

Controlling the disease with Chemotherapy

If curing is not possible, the goal of cancer treatment is to control the disease. In such cases, chemotherapy is used to shrink the tumour and stop the spreading of cancer cells in the body. In many cases, cancer doesn’t completely go away. It can be controlled and managed as a chronic disease like heart disease or diabetes. In some cases, cancer can go away for a while but then come back later. Chemotherapy, therefore, acts as a treatment for the symptoms and helps the patient live a longer life comfortably.

Chemotherapy is sometimes used to treat the symptoms caused by cancer. This is called palliative chemotherapy. At advanced stages of cancer, where it cannot be controlled and has spread in the body, the goal of chemotherapy is to make the patient as comfortable as possible. Here it is used to improve the quality of life of the patient. For example, chemotherapy can be used to shrink the tumour that is causing pain or pressure so the patient feels less pain. Some patients shared that after their chemotherapy started, they could actually feel better and have more energy because the symptoms of their cancer were fading away.

It is important to keep in mind that every case is different and so is its treatment. The best way to know if chemotherapy is the best option for you is to have a word with the best chemotherapy doctor in Mumbai.