CHEMOTHERAPY.

By Sally Embwaga

What is cancer?
Rapid, uncontrolled replication of abnormal cells in the body. Chemo sensitive testing (also known as Cell Culture Drug Resistance Testing - CCDRT or In Vitro Drug Sensitivity Testing for Patients with Cancer - DST) is a fairly new procedure whereby a piece of the patient's tumor is surgically removed, sent to a special laboratory and then exposed to different chemotherapy drugs to determine which type of chemotherapy will be most effective.

Cancer cells

Statistics 2011

Cancer Statistics, 2011

Uses of chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy is simply the use of chemical to treat diseases. Chemotherapy is used to treat number of diseases and what it does is to kill the cells that are dividing at a fast rate. Some of the diseases include cancer, lupus, Hodgkins diseases. Originally, chemotherapy was not used for treatment .During World War I and II, and mustard gas was used as a chemical warfare agent. The people exposed to this had their WBC slowed down and also the gas damaged the DNA of the cells . Doctors tested the effectiveness of this gas on cancer patients through IVs and the results were amazing.

Historic advancement of chemotherapy.

The use of mustard gas during World War I and II experience initiated researchers to seek for other similar drugs that can have the same effect on cancer cell by developing methods to screen chemicals using transplantable tumors in rodents. (Drum, 2000). since then, more and more research has been done to improve the effectiveness of the drugs and to compact new challenges in the cancer world. Today, chemotherapy has changed as important molecular abnormalities are being used to screen for potential new drugs as well as for targeted treatments

How chemotherapy works..

The underlying principle of chemotherapy is to kill the cancer by treating them with chemicals that interfere with the process of cell division. They do this either by damaging the protein involved, or by damaging the DNA itself. This causes the damaged cells to die. It works by getting into cancer cells, killing them from the inside.

A chemotherapy port
a little medical device(catheter) that is installed under the skin to facilitate administration of meds into the circulatory system. lessen the pain and discomfort associated with repeated chemotherapy intravenous infusions. facilitate drawing of blood samples, eliminating the need for repeated venipunctures.

Port for Chemotherapy

Alternative Therapies
surgery, radiation therapy. Cancer Alternative therapies treatments do not work for everyone some methods such as acupuncture might help with nausea, pain and other side effects of cancer treatment. Practicing chiropractic, and herbal medicine, yoga, meditation and other relaxation techniques can also be used to decrease anxiety and pain. prayers and other religious practices. Also practicing a healthy lifestyle choice can help

 acupuncture

 herbs

Controversies of chemotherapy.
moral ethical and religious issues surrounds the use of chemotherapy to treat cancer. The Christian scientists and Jehovahs Witness believe in the power of natural healing and gods power to heal. There have been situations where the law judge issue court orders mandating the parents resume chemotherapy for their children.

Affordability.
Chemotherapy treatment in the United States can be significantly expensive depending on the kind of drugs prescribed and length of treatment. Other factors include how often the treatment is administered and where the patient is taking the treatment. Most health insurance companies have policies that pay a portion of the costly procedure. unfortunately newer and more efficient drugs are oftentimes not covered.

Making decisions.
Making a decision to use chemo treatment or not should be considered seriously. Depending on the type of cancer disease and other factors including moral, financial and religion, people can make prudent decisions after talking with the physicians and family members.