Treatment using medicines that kill, damage, or inhibit the growth and division of rapidly multiplying cells, particularly cancer cells.
Chemotherapy is most commonly associated with cancer treatment. Depending on the cancer, it may be used to cure the disease, reduce the risk of recurrence, slow its progression, shrink tumors, or relieve symptoms. It may be given alone or combined with surgery, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, or other treatments.
Because some healthy cells also divide rapidly, chemotherapy can affect them as well. This helps explain side effects such as hair loss, nausea, mouth sores, and reduced blood-cell production, although side effects vary considerably between medicines and treatment regimens.
COMMONLY CONFUSED WITH
- Targeted therapy: medicines designed to act on specific molecular features or pathways involved in cancer.
- Immunotherapy: treatment that harnesses or modifies the immune system to fight cancer.
- Radiation therapy: uses ionizing radiation to damage cancer cells in a specific area of the body.
SEE ALSO
