Common Cancer Drugs Used for Chemotherapy Treatment
Cancer is widely known to be a potential killer disease that affects almost every individual in all ages, gender and race. Usually, cancer cells multiply very quickly, which makes it difficult to be treated successfully. In most cases, cancer cells spread out to other parts of the human body, which makes it more difficult to treat. There are a few ways to be able to treat different types of cancer such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, and hormone therapy. However, in a chemotherapy treatment, a cancer patient can also receive medical drugs for the medication.
There are about six most common cancer drugs that are taken in by patients who undergo chemotherapy. These drugs are Paclitaxel, Gemcitabine, Etopisode, Anthracyclines, Toposisomerase inhibitors, and Alkylating agents.
Paclitaxel. This drug is advertised under Abraxane and Taxol brand names. This is a drug that causes the development of cancer cells to stop growing. Paclitaxel is most commonly applied in treating specified type of cancers — lungs and breast. The medication is given intravenously once in every three weeks. There are some side effects that roots from this drug such as diarrhea and vomiting, as well as causes the patient to suffer significant hair loss.
Gemcitabine. The primary function of this drug is to impede the cancer cell’s growth. The types of cancer usually treated with this drug are pancreatic, lung, and breast cancer. It is sold under Gemzar brand name. When taken in by the patient, certain side effects can be inflicted on the cancer patient including the swelling of the extremities, diarrhea, vomiting, as well as hair loss.
Etopisode. This medication is sold in the names of VP-16, Eposin, Etopophos, and Vepesid. Etopisode, primarily functions by getting rid of the cancer cells and eliminating them. The most common cancer types it treats are bone cancer and stomach cancer. At the same time, the drug also is used for the treatment of lung cancer and testicular cancer. This is usually received either through an injection or a tablet. Uncomfortable side effects can be caused by this medicine such as fatigue and weakness.
Anthracyclines. These medicines are sold under Adriamycin and Daunomycin brand names. These are classified as antitumor antibiotics, used as a common treatment for most types of cancer. Anthracyclines function by means of entirely attacking the tumor, which was caused by the cancer. The medicine should be prescribed in the appropriate dosage so that it will not cause permanent heart damage.
Toposisomerase inhibitors. These medicines like Doxorubicin are a different type of drugs that have an effect on the DNA. The primary function of the drug is to keep the DNA from being duplicated. The most common cancer types it treats are treat gastrointestinal cancer, leukemia, ovarian cancer, as well as lung cancer. However, according to the American Cancer Society, this kind of drug can have the risk of developing a secondary cancer known as acute myelogenous leukemia.
Alkylating agents. These drugs such as Leukeran and Cytoxan works by damaging the body’s DNA. This can keep the cancer from multiplying further. This drug is most commonly used as a treatment for a lot of cancer types like lymphoma, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, as well as bone cancer. However, for some patients, this can possibly lead to leukemia, because the drug damages the DNA that damages bone marrow.
Categories: Advice, Health Tags: cancer cell, cancer cells, cancer patient, chemotherapy treatment, medical drugs, treatment of lung cancer, types of cancer
A light at the end of the tunnel: Cancer treatments for Cancer patients
There are different types of cancer classified by health care professionals. And with each type of cancer comes with a different kind of treatment. The cancer treatment typically relies on the stage of the cancer, age, health status, other personal characteristics, and most especially the cancer type. A patient may oftentimes need to have a combination of treatments, since there is no single treatment for cancer that can actually help the patient get rid of the disease. A combination of palliative care and series of therapies is frequently required for cancer patients.
Generally, treatments for cancer are categorized under surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation, gene therapy, or immunotherapy. These different treatment categories for the disease have been known to stop the development and further kill cancer cells inside the body.
Surgery is probably the oldest known treatment for cancer. This kind of treatment works for the patient if the cancer cells have not yet metastasized. Surgery has the capability to totally treat and heal the suffering individual by means of taking the cancer out from the body through surgical method. This is also influential in helping to manage symptoms like spinal cord compression or bowel obstruction. Oftentimes, surgery is conducted to patients diagnosed with breast or prostate cancer. However, if the disease has already spread out, it’s almost unattainable to remove all the cancer cells in the affected part.
Chemotherapy or usually referred as chemo is a treatment that makes use of drugs or chemicals to eradicate cancer cells in the body. These drugs will help in stopping the process of cell division, which will damage DNA or proteins so that cancer cells will die. Generally, chemo is required to those cancers that has already metastasized or spread out in the body, since the chemicals can travel all over the whole body and attack cancer cells. This is usually a treatment for lymphoma or leukemia. It takes place in series so the body has enough time to heal between dosages. More often, some drugs are given together rather than on their own. On the other hand, the treatment still has side effects like vomiting, hair loss, nausea, and fatigue.
Another kind of treatment is hormone therapy. This is intended to modify or change production of hormones in the body in order for cancer cells to stop growing or be totally killed. This is common to prostate and breast cancer, since they have been associated to a few kinds of hormones. A hormone therapy for prostate cancer often focuses on lessening the levels of testosterone and a breast cancer hormone therapy frequently focuses on decreasing the levels of estrogen.
Radiation, or radiotherapy, is another kind of cancer treatment, which works by destroying cancer by focusing high-energy rays on the cancer cells. As a result, the molecules that make-up the cancer cells are damaged, leading them to be totally killed. It makes us of high-energy gamma rays that are sent out from metals like high-energy x-rays or radium, which are formed in special machines. The treatment destroys cancer cells or shrinks the tumor and it can be combined with other kinds of treatment as well.
Gene therapy can treat cancer by replacing destroyed genes with ones that has the ability to work to address a root cause of cancer, damage to DNA. However, this treatment is considered new in the field and has not yet yielded any successful treatment for a patient.
Immunotherapy is a treatment for the disease that intends to get the immune system of the body to fight against the tumor. There are two kinds of immunotherapy: (1) systematic immunotherapy, which treats the entire body through controlling an agent like protein interferon alpha that shrinks tumors, and (2) local immunotherapy, wherein it injects a treatment into an affected area to cause inflammation that causes a tumor to shrink. This treatment can be considered targeted if the treatment particularly notifies the immune system to obliterate cancer cells. And it can also be regarded as non-specific if it enhances the abilities of fighting cancer through the stimulation of the whole immune system.
Categories: Advice, Health Tags: attack cancer cells, health care professionals, types of cancer