Treatment FAQ

cancer treatment with chemo. what chemicals are used?

by Else Pfeffer V Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
image

What chemicals are used in chemotherapy?

  • Abraxane (chemical name: albumin-bound or nab-paclitaxel)
  • Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin)
  • carboplatin (brand name: Paraplatin)
  • Cytoxan (chemical name: cyclophosphamide)
  • daunorubicin (brand names: Cerubidine, DaunoXome)
  • Doxil (chemical name: doxorubicin)
  • Ellence (chemical name: epirubicin)

Many different kinds of chemotherapy or chemo drugs are used to treat cancer – either alone or in combination with other drugs or treatments.
...
Alkylating agents
  • Altretamine.
  • Bendamustine.
  • Busulfan.
  • Carboplatin.
  • Carmustine.
  • Chlorambucil.
  • Cisplatin.
  • Cyclophosphamide.
Nov 22, 2019

Full Answer

What are the chemical agents used in chemotherapy?

Apr 17, 2022 · Anthracyclines, which are anti-tumor antibiotics, can also be used during chemotherapy treatment for a variety of cancers. They work by blocking RNA synthesis and keeping DNA strands from re-attaching to each other, destroying the cancer's ability to grow and reproduce. Chemicals in this category include mitoxantrone, doxorubicin and daunorubicin.

What are chemotherapy drugs used for?

Jan 06, 2020 · What chemicals are used in chemotherapy? Abraxane (chemical name: albumin-bound or nab-paclitaxel) Adriamycin (chemical name: doxorubicin) carboplatin (brand name: Paraplatin) Cytoxan (chemical name: cyclophosphamide) daunorubicin (brand names: Cerubidine, DaunoXome) Doxil (chemical name: ...

What drugs are used to treat cancer?

Nov 04, 2012 · This has been a very effective way to target breast cancer, with something called Herceptin, and also to turn off the blood supply to tumours with something called Avastin.

image

What chemicals does chemotherapy use?

Types of Chemotherapy
  • Mustard gas derivatives: Mechlorethamine, Cyclophosphamide, Chlorambucil, Melphalan, and Ifosfamide.
  • Ethylenimines: Thiotepa and Hexamethylmelamine.
  • Alkylsulfonates: Busulfan.
  • Hydrazines and Triazines: Altretamine, Procarbazine, Dacarbazine and Temozolomide.

Which chemical compound is used in treatment of cancer?

Platinum drugs, such as cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin, are the mainstay of the metal-based compounds in the treatment of cancer, but the delay in the therapeutic accomplishment of other metal-based compounds hampered the progress of research in this field.Mar 3, 2017

How many chemicals are used in chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy Drugs. There are more than 100 different chemotherapy drugs.Oct 28, 2021

Is chemo made from chemicals?

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cells in your body.Mar 22, 2022

Which complex is used in cancer chemotherapy?

Platinum complexes are used in treating cancer patients by its application in cancer chemotherapy treatment. Cisplatin is the first platinum complex which was observed to have anticancer activity.

Which non metal is used in cancer therapy?

Radon is the non-metal that is used for cancer therapy.

What is the most commonly used chemotherapy drug?

Alkylating agents were among the first anti-cancer drugs and are the most commonly used agents in chemotherapy today. Alkylating agents act directly on DNA, causing cross-linking of DNA strands, abnormal base pairing, or DNA strand breaks, thus preventing the cell from dividing.

What is the strongest type of chemotherapy?

Doxorubicin (Adriamycin) is one of the most powerful chemotherapy drugs ever invented. It can kill cancer cells at every point in their life cycle, and it's used to treat a wide variety of cancers. Unfortunately, the drug can also damage heart cells, so a patient can't take it indefinitely.

What are the three types of chemotherapy?

Treatment with these powerful drugs is called standard chemotherapy, traditional chemotherapy, or cytotoxic chemotherapy.

Why is chemo toxic?

Chemotherapy drugs cause considerable damage to any cells that are actively dividing in the body, leading to severe side effects including nausea, hair loss, and immunosuppression. For that reason, we often call these drugs poisons.Aug 24, 2020

Is cisplatin platinum based?

Cisplatin, a platinum-based drug, is used in combination chemotherapy for a wide range of solid tumors.May 30, 2014

Is snake venom used in chemotherapy?

In summary, the studies on the inhibitory effect of crude snake venoms towards tumor cells showed doubtful results at the early stages. The snake venom was used as the mixture and their main clinical effect for cancer therapy was pain relief for the patients with hopelessly malignant tumors.Aug 29, 2018

Does chemotherapy kill cancer cells?

Chemotherapy not only kills fast-growing cancer cells, but also kills or slows the growth of healthy cells that grow and divide quickly. Examples are cells that line your mouth and intestines and those that cause your hair to grow. Damage to healthy cells may cause side effects, such as mouth sores, nausea, and hair loss. Side effects often get better or go away after you have finished chemotherapy.

How does chemotherapy work?

Chemotherapy works by stopping or slowing the growth of cancer cells, which grow and divide quickly. Chemotherapy is used to: Chemotherapy can be used to cure cancer, lessen the chance it will return, or stop or slow its growth. Chemotherapy can be used to shrink tumors that are causing pain and other problems.

What is the treatment for cancer?

Who Receives Chemotherapy . Chemotherapy is used to treat many types of cancer. For some people, chemotherapy may be the only treatment you receive. But most often, you will have chemotherapy and other cancer treatments.

Does chemotherapy cause cancer?

Chemotherapy Can Cause Side Effects. Chemotherapy not only kills fast-growing cancer cells, but also kills or slows the growth of healthy cells that grow and divide quickly. Examples are cells that line your mouth and intestines and those that cause your hair to grow.

How does chemo work?

Chemotherapy to Treat Cancer. Chemotherapy works against cancer by killing fast-growing cancer cells. Chemotherapy (also called chemo) is a type of cancer treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells.

What is adjuvant chemotherapy?

Destroy cancer cells that may remain after treatment with surgery or radiation therapy. This is called adjuvant chemotherapy. Help other treatments work better. Kill cancer cells that have returned or spread to other parts of your body.

Does chemo cause hair loss?

Damage to healthy cells may cause side effects, such as mouth sores, nausea, and hair loss. Side effects often get better or go away after you have finished chemotherapy. The most common side effect is fatigue, which is feeling exhausted and worn out.

What is chemo used for?

Many different kinds of chemotherapy or chemo drugs are used to treat cancer – either alone or in combination with other drugs or treatments. These drugs are very different in their chemical composition (what they are made of), how they are prescribed and given, how useful they are in treating certain types of cancer, ...

How does chemo work?

Chemotherapy works with the cell cycle. Every time any new cell is formed, it goes through a usual process to become a fully functioning (or mature) cell. The process involves a series of phases and is called the cell cycle. Chemotherapy drugs target cells at different phases of the cell cycle. Understanding how these drugs work helps doctors ...

What is the process of a cell cycle?

Every time any new cell is formed, it goes through a usual process to become a fully functioning (or mature) cell. The process involves a series of phases and is called the cell cycle. Chemotherapy drugs target cells at different phases of the cell cycle. Understanding how these drugs work helps doctors predict which drugs are likely ...

What is the process of chemo?

The process involves a series of phases and is called the cell cycle . Chemotherapy drugs target cells at different phases of the cell cycle. Understanding how these drugs work helps doctors predict which drugs are likely to work well together. Doctors can also plan how often doses of each drug should be given based on the timing of the cell phases.

What does it mean when you get chemo?

Each time chemo is given, it means trying to find a balance between killing the cancer cells (in order to cure or control the disease) and sparing the normal cells (to lessen side effects).

How are chemotherapy drugs grouped?

Chemo drugs can be grouped by how they work, their chemical structure, and their relationships to other drugs. Some drugs work in more than one way, and may belong to more than one group. (Note: not all chemotherapy drugs are listed here.)

Why is knowing how a drug works important?

Knowing how the drug works is important in predicting side effects from it. This helps doctors decide which drugs are likely to work well together. If more than one drug will be used, this information also helps them plan exactly when each of the drugs should be given (in which order and how often).

What is the treatment of cancer called?

Chemotherapy is the use of chemical agents to kill cells. In conversational usage, the term chemotherapy refers to the chemical treatment of cancer. But chemical agents are also used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS), various autoimmune diseases, and even arthritis.

Can chemo affect cells?

Although side effect management has come along way in recent years, chemotherapy drugs still affect healthy cells. Sometimes the effects of cell damage are temporary, but sometimes they are long-term or even permanent. Talk to your doctor about what to expect from your chemotherapeutic drugs.

Who were the two pharmacologists who were involved in the discovery of nitrogen mustard?

In the 1940s, the United States Department of Defense recruited two pharmacologists, Louis S. Goodman and Alfred Gilman, to research the therapeutic properties of chemical warfare agents. Autopsy findings involving people exposed to nitrogen mustard (mustard gas) unveiled conditions in the body conducive to tumor suppression.

What happens when a cell accepts a masked antimetabolite?

When a cell accepts the masked anti-metabolites, it becomes unable to incorporate genuine purine into its DNA. This results in cellular DNA damage. Anti-metabolites are among the most widely used chemotherapeutic drugs.

image

Overview

  • Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cells in your body. Chemotherapy is most often used to treat cancer, since cancer cells grow and multiply much more quickly than most cells in the body. Many different chemotherapy drugs are available. Chemotherapy drugs can be used alone or in combination to treat a...
See more on mayoclinic.org

Why It's Done

  • Chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells in people with cancer. There are a variety of settings in which chemotherapy may be used in people with cancer: 1. To cure the cancer without other treatments.Chemotherapy can be used as the primary or sole treatment for cancer. 2. After other treatments, to kill hidden cancer cells.Chemotherapy can be used after other treatments, such a…
See more on mayoclinic.org

Risks

  • Side effects of chemotherapy drugs can be significant. Each drug has different side effects, and not every drug causes every side effect. Ask your doctor about the side effects of the particular drugs you'll receive.
See more on mayoclinic.org

How You Prepare

  • How you prepare for chemotherapy depends on which drugs you'll receive and how they'll be administered. Your doctor will give you specific instructions to prepare for your chemotherapy treatments. You may need to: 1. Have a device surgically inserted before intravenous chemotherapy.If you'll be receiving your chemotherapy intravenously — into a vein — your docto…
See more on mayoclinic.org

What You Can Expect

  • Determining which chemotherapy drugs you'll receive
    Your doctor chooses which chemotherapy drugs you'll receive based on several factors, including: 1. Type of cancer 2. Stage of cancer 3. Overall health 4. Previous cancer treatments 5. Your goals and preferences Discuss your treatment options with your doctor. Together you can decide what…
  • How chemotherapy drugs are given
    Chemotherapy drugs can be given in different ways, including: 1. Chemotherapy infusions.Chemotherapy is most often given as an infusion into a vein (intravenously). The drugs can be given by inserting a tube with a needle into a vein in your arm or into a device in a vein in …
See more on mayoclinic.org

Results

  • You'll meet with your cancer doctor (oncologist) regularly during chemotherapy treatment. Your oncologist will ask about any side effects you're experiencing, since many can be controlled. Depending on your situation, you may also undergo scans and other tests to monitor your cancer during chemotherapy treatment. These tests can give your doctor an idea of how your cancer is …
See more on mayoclinic.org

Clinical Trials

  • Explore Mayo Clinic studiesof tests and procedures to help prevent, detect, treat or manage conditions.
See more on mayoclinic.org

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9