Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy drugs can be given by mouth or injection. Because the medicines travel
through the blood stream to the entire body, chemotherapy is considered a body-wide
(systemic) treatment.

Chemotherapy may be used to:

Cure the cancer
Keep the cancer from spreading
Ease symptoms (when the cancer cannot be cured)

Chemotherapy medicines usually target cells that quickly divide. However, normal cells – including those found in the blood, hair, and the lining of the gastrointestinal tract also divide very quickly. That means chemotherapy can also damage or kill these healthy cells. When this occurs, side effects such as nausea, anaemia, and hair loss can occur. Other side effects that are commonly experienced are fatigue, nerve pain, infection, changing bowel habits and rashes.

Side effects of chemotherapy depend on many things, including the type of cancer and specific drugs being used. Newer chemotherapy drugs that better target cancer cells may cause fewer side effects.

The key to effectively managing side effects is open communication between the patient and the cancer treatment team. Once side effects have been identified, then a plan of care will be determined to offer
best treatment. All our nurses are trained in the management of Oncology Patients and will give advice to reduce or prevent the occurrence of side effects.