At What Cancer Stage is Chemotherapy Typically Used?

Chemotherapy Usage in Different Cancer Stages

Chemotherapy is a popular cancer treatment. It involves consuming medicines that kill cancer cells. The therapy also helps to stop tumour growth. All stages of cancer can benefit from chemotherapy. However, your doctor will decide whether you require chemotherapy based on your cancer stage and aggressiveness.

Cancer treatment does not only include chemotherapy. Treatments such as surgery and radiation therapy are often used alongside chemotherapy.

What are the Goals of Chemotherapy?

The therapy aims to achieve certain goals for different cancer stages. They are:

• Earlier Cancer Stages:Chemotherapy aims to completely cure the early stages of cancer. Since the cancer has not yet spread, the primary goal of this treatment is to prevent it from coming back.
• Stage 2 Cancer: In this stage, the cancer typically spreads to nearby lymph nodes. However, it does not spread to nearby organs. Therefore, chemotherapy helps to prevent tumour growth by shrinking its size. The goal is to prevent the spread of cancer in the body.
• Advanced Cancer Stages: In stages 3 and 4, when the cancer has spread to other body parts, chemotherapy helps to relieve pain. It provides support to increase survival rates as well.

Types of Chemotherapy

Oncologists often take the help of different types of chemotherapy to treat cancer. They are:

Concurrent Chemotherapy

• Healthcare professionals often combine chemotherapy with other therapies. Generally, it is combined with radiation therapy. Together, they are often called chemoradiation.

Adjuvant Chemotherapy

• Your doctor will typically use adjuvant therapy after your primary treatment. This treatment is efficient in identifying cancer cells, which the primary treatment missed. Therefore, your chances of survival increase, and you can enjoy a better quality of life.

Palliative Chemotherapy

• The main goal of palliative chemotherapy is to increase your survival rate. This is generally used for advanced stages of cancer, such as stage 3 or 4. It reduces symptoms and relieves pain.

How is Chemotherapy Administered?

Chemotherapy is a systemic therapy. This implies that the medicine travels around the body and attacks wherever the cancer is present. There are several ways to administer this treatment. They are as follows:

• Intravenous (IV): In this method, doctors directly administer the medicine into your veins.
• Intrathecal (IT): Your oncologist injects the medicine into your spinal cord, which contains cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
• Intra-Arterial (IA): The medicine is given into the artery feeding the cancer. This is either done through a needle or a thin tube (catheter).
• Intraperitoneal (IP): Doctors put the medicine into the peritoneal cavity, often during surgery. This cavity contains the liver, stomach, intestines and ovaries.

Other Methods of Chemotherapy

Apart from IT, IP, IA and IV, doctors also use other ways to give you chemotherapy. These are:

• Oral Medicines: You need to swallow a pill.
• Topical Medicines: You rub a cream containing the medicine on your body.
• Injections: You get an injection beneath your skin into your muscles.

Types of Chemotherapy Medicines

Unlike popular belief, chemotherapy is not one medicine. There are various kinds of chemotherapy medicines, each performing a different function.

Antimetabolites

• These medicines help to stop new cancer DNA production in your body. Common antimetabolites are Fludarabine, Cytarabine, Azacitidine, and Pentostatin, among others.

Alkylating Agents

• They are one of the most prevalent forms of chemotherapy. They damage cell DNA, helping stop the cancer from spreading. Common medications of alkylating agents are Busulfan, Cisplatin, Ifosfamide, and Trabectedin.

Mitotic Inhibitors

• Cancer cells multiply by a process known as mitosis. These medicines stop mitosis from happening, preventing cancer growth. Plants also use this mechanism to defend themselves.
• Since these medicines mimic natural processes, doctors call them plant alkaloids. Some of the most common ones are Cabazitaxel and Paclitaxel.

Antitumour Antibiotics 

• Cancer cells typically multiply by copying DNA. However, antitumour antibiotics stop this process. On the downside, these drugs can cause you DNA damage. Common medicines include Bleomycin and Doxorubicin liposomal.

Chemotherapy is a common cancer treatment. All stages of cancer benefit from the treatment. Typically, doctors combine it with other therapies to get rid of cancer. Your oncologist will decide which chemotherapy is right for you based on your cancer stage and aggressiveness.