How Chemotherapy Destroys Cancerous Tumors

Jun 27, 2024

3 min read

By: Alexander Heredia

Chemotherapy is a treatment for cancer that kills off quickly dividing cells. Cancer is a disease in which some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body. [1] These cells can join together and form lumps of tissue—otherwise known as tumors.

What Are Tumors?

There are two main categories of tumors: benign and malignant. Benign tumors are non-cancerous; however, they are not necessarily harmless. An example of a benign tumor is a myxoma, which grows in the top left chamber of the heart—the atrium. Malignant tumors, or cancerous tumors, are tissues that are riddled with rapidly dividing cells. These tumors can grow anywhere in the body, from the skin to the lungs. Because the cells divide quickly, they can travel through the lymph or blood in the body and create more tumors through metastasis. Tumors have no specific size or shape; they can range in size from one millimeter to twelve inches in diameter.

What Are Some Tumor Treatments?

Tumors typically have two effective treatment options: chemotherapy or surgery. These are not the only two options, but they are the most common and life-saving methods. Because chemotherapy is less invasive than surgery; therefore, it carries less risk. Nevertheless, chemotherapy has its disadvantages. Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill fast-growing cells in your body. Chemotherapy is most often used to treat cancer, since cancer cells grow and multiply much more quickly than most cells in the body. Many different chemotherapy drugs are available. They can be used alone or in combination to treat a wide variety of cancers [2]. The strength of the drug depends on the type of tumor, the vascular structures it invades, whether it has metastasized, and its aggressiveness. Chemotherapy can be given in different doses, specifically low-dose and high-dose. All chemotherapy treatments are tough on the body, but there are specific treatments that are especially difficult. One of these treatments is called "The Red Devil", medically known as doxorubicin, which is considered one of the strongest treatments for cancer. Adverse reactions are common after doxorubicin administration, including fatigue, alopecia, nausea, vomiting, and oral sores. Bone marrow suppression and an increased risk of secondary malignancy may occur [3].

How Does Chemotherapy Actually Work?

Chemotherapy is typically administered intravenously (through a vein) this way, the treatment immediately enters the bloodstream. Intravenous (IV) chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that injects chemotherapy medicine directly into a patient’s vein thereby instantly entering the bloodstream.

IV chemotherapy is the most common form of chemotherapy and is typically performed during a series of sessions over the course of weeks; each session may range from a few minutes to a few hours. IV chemotherapy provides versatility and flexibility in treatment dosage, and may be delivered directly into the vein as one shot, via a catheter and pump, or through a drip bag that dilutes the medication [4]. Chemotherapy may shrink your cancer or slow down its growth, which may help you live longer and alleviate your symptoms. For a small number of people with borderline resectable cancer, chemotherapy may shrink the cancer enough to make surgery to remove the cancer possible [5].

Summary View

In conclusion, chemotherapy remains a guiding light in the fight against cancer, offering hope and healing to millions of cancer patients seeking to shrink their tumors. Despite chemotherapy's challenges, ongoing research aims to refine these treatments.

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Author Alexander Heredia is an 9th grader from the Southern United States, passionate about current advancements in healthcare technology.

Works Cited