Let's learn about chemotherapy for colorectal cancer.

When the doctor tells you or someone you know has colorectal cancer, the next word you hear is ' chemotherapy .' Hearing this name makes many people feel scared and overwhelmed. But what is it really? What will happen to it? Is it really something to be afraid of? Let's put aside all the questions we have about this and talk about it simply and honestly.

What exactly is chemotherapy?

Simply put, chemotherapy is a powerful drug that is given to kill cancer cells . It is like declaring war on an enemy in our body. There are different ways to give this drug to the body. Sometimes it is given intravenously as a saline solution, and other times it is given as a pill. Your doctor will decide which drug is right for you, the dosage, and the schedule. Doctors use this chemotherapy treatment for different purposes. Let's take a look at what they are.

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (chemotherapy given before surgery)

Imagine that you have a cancerous tumor, and it is a little big. Then it can be a little difficult to completely remove it with surgery. In such cases, before the surgery, this chemotherapy medicine is given to shrink the tumor, that is, to make it smaller . When the tumor is smaller, the surgeon can completely remove it easily and with fewer complications. Sometimes this chemotherapy is given along with radiation therapy, because then the radiation therapy is also more successful.

Adjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy given after surgery)

After surgery to remove a cancerous tumor, sometimes there may be one or two very small cancer cells left in the body that are not visible to our eyes. Chemotherapy is given after surgery to completely destroy those remaining cells . This is like sweeping a house thoroughly and then mopping it to remove the last dust. This helps a lot in preventing the cancer from coming back.

Palliative chemotherapy (chemotherapy given to control symptoms)

In some advanced cases, the cancer may have spread to other parts of the body (for example, the liver). In such cases, surgery alone may not be able to completely cure the cancer. In that case, chemotherapy is given to shrink the cancer, reduce symptoms (such as pain), and prolong the patient's life and make daily life easier .

Main drugs used for colon cancer

There are several types of medications used to treat colon cancer. Let's take a look at some of them and how they are given. This treatment is usually given in cycles . That is, the medication is given for a few days or a week or two, followed by a week or two of rest. Treatment is continued in this manner for about 6 months.

Treatments that affect the body and are given only to a specific area.

When chemotherapy is taken as a pill or given intravenously, it enters the bloodstream and travels throughout the body to kill cancer cells. This is called systemic chemotherapy . But sometimes, it is possible to target a specific organ to which the cancer has spread. For example, if the cancer has spread to the liver, a procedure called chemoembolization of the hepatic artery is used. This involves temporarily or permanently blocking the main artery that supplies blood to the liver (the hepatic artery) and injecting chemotherapy between the blockage and the liver. This allows the medicine to go directly to the liver and is much less likely to spread to other parts of the body.

Special treatments called Targeted Therapy

These are newer drugs that are a little different from regular chemo. These drugs target specific genes or proteins in cancer cells and attack them . In other words, they are like finding the enemy's weakest spot and attacking it. This means that healthy cells are less damaged. They are sometimes given along with chemotherapy. Other times, they are used when regular chemotherapy is no longer effective. Examples include Bevacizumab (Avastin), Cetuximab (Erbitux), and Panitumumab (Vectibix).

What are the side effects of chemo?

Chemotherapy kills rapidly dividing cancer cells. But it can also affect rapidly dividing healthy cells in our bodies. For example, the cells inside our mouths, the cells that grow hair follicles, and the cells in our bone marrow. The side effects occur because those healthy cells are damaged. These side effects do not occur in everyone the same way. They vary from drug to drug and from patient to patient. For example, the drug `Oxaliplatin` can cause nerve damage in some people. Colon cancer, colorectal cancer, chemotherapy, cancer treatment, chemotherapy side effects, 5-FU