Commonly
Used Chemo Agents | Resources & Research
News
Chemotherapy
is a broad term for a wide range of agents that are given
systemically (by infusion or pill) to treat cancer. Many
side effects listed in this section are associated with various chemotherapy
agents including but not limited to:
Anemia
| Fatigue | Hair Loss | Low blood counts | Nausea | Neuropathy
| Oral problems
Many chemotherapy agents damage or kill rapidly
growing cells, which includes normal cells: hair, and blood cells
that form in the marrow.
Will I
recover? Your normal cells will usually recover
when chemotherapy is over, and with this recovery the side effects
will gradually subside.
How long will it
take? This depends on many things, including
your age, health status, and the kind of chemotherapy you have
received. Some side effects will persist for days; other
effects can last for years.
Related Topics:
-
Biologics that can prevent or treat
myelosuppression.
-
Brain function and chemotherapy - see "Chemo
Brain."
-
Chemo-protection - CAM
section of PAL
Chemotherapy - treatment with a variety of chemical agents is commonly used to effectively
treat patients with lymphomas and other cancers. However,
information about how patients
might protect themselves from the
side effects associated with these agents is not readily
available.
The goal of this page is to provide links to
reliable sources of information on this topic so that patients
and
their doctors can make better-informed decisions, and so patients
can avoid practices that
might potentially interfere with
treatments.
-
CBC - blood test
is often used to monitor the effect of therapy on blood counts.
-
The Chemotherapy section for a list
of agents and mechanism - PAL
