Chemotherapy

“Many hard-to-treat cancers become resistant to chemotherapy, sometimes even within a few weeks of starting treatment,” explained Dr. Santosh Kesari, a neuro-oncologist and director of neuro-oncology at Providence Saint John’s Health Center and chair of the Department of Translational Neurosciences and Neurotherapeutics at Saint John’s Cancer Institute in California as well as regional medical director […]

A chemotherapy pump is a device that dispenses chemotherapy drugs at a slow, controlled rate into the body. Portable versions of these devices can allow a person to receive chemo in the comfort of their home.  

One of the most common side effects is “chemo brain,” a type of mental fog that causes memory loss, trouble concentrating and difficulty doing several things at once. Source: 30 Memes That Describe What ‘Chemo Brain’ Feels Like | The Mighty

Many chemotherapy drugs have adverse effects that can be severe. However, if a doctor recommends a person have chemotherapy, this usually means that the benefits are likely to outweigh any adverse effects. Source: Chemotherapy: What it is, what to expect, side effects, and outlook

Metronomic chemotherapy is an emerging way of giving chemotherapy that aims to provide less toxicity than traditional chemotherapy. Source: Metronomic Chemotherapy: Looking at A New Way to Receive Treatment – Metastatic Breast Cancer Trial Talk

There are a range of cancer treatments available, and they differ depending on what type of cancer a person has. Learn about common chemotherapy drugs here. Source: What are some of the most common chemo drugs?

A growing number of cancer patients, especially those with breast and lung cancers, are being spared the dreaded treatment in favor of other options. Source: Cancer Without Chemotherapy: ‘A Totally Different World’ – The New York Times

A growing number of cancer patients, especially those with breast and lung cancers, are being spared the dreaded treatment in favor of other options. Source: Cancer Without Chemotherapy: ‘A Totally Different World’ – The New York Times

This article will explore things a person should avoid during chemotherapy. It will also explore recommendations regarding things to do and precautions to take while undergoing chemotherapy. Source: 11 things not to do during chemotherapy: What to avoid

There are several alternative cancer treatments to chemotherapy, including immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and laser therapy. Some people may prefer these alternatives due to the potentially severe side effects of chemotherapy. Source: Alternatives to chemotherapy: 5 options

Immunotherapy and chemotherapy are both treatments for cancer. Read on to learn about how they work, what side effects they cause, how much they cost, and more. Source: Immunotherapy vs. chemotherapy: Similarities and differences

A chemotherapy-free neoadjuvant regimen led to similar breast cancer outcomes, while allowing a majority of patients with high-risk early-stage disease to avoid adjuvant cytotoxic therapy, according to updated results from a randomized trial. Source: Chemo-Free Regimen Shows Promise in High-Risk Early Breast Cancer | MedPage Today

Oral chemotherapy is a new type of chemotherapy that people can use at home to treat some cancers. This article reviews how effective it is for breast cancer. Source: How effective is oral chemotherapy for breast cancer?

Here are five things medical professionals might not tell a cancer patient. Source: 5 Things People Never Tell You About Chemo | The Breast Cancer Site News

Unless you cause the cancer stem cell to differentiate back into a normal cell, no matter how much chemotherapy or radiation you do, no matter how much tumor shrinkage or cancer reduction you achieve, the cancer will return and be even more aggressive, growing faster. Why? Because all chemotherapies and radiation therapies do not kill […]

A new drug delivery system, promises to deliver the chemo drug straight into tumors with fewer side effects. Source: This New Therapy Lessens the Side Effects of Chemo

Tel Aviv University team uses ‘microscopic scissors’ to pinpoint and eliminate cancerous cells; results of animal tests just published, trial in humans expected within 2 years Source: With new ‘elegant chemo,’ Israeli scientists edit genome to destroy cancer DNA | The Times of Israel

Cancer might be better controlled by administering low-doses of chemotherapy drugs rather than using toxically high doses that damage the body but still allow drug-resistant tumour cells to spread, a study has suggested. Source: Cancer: Low doses of chemotherapy ‘may control disease more effectively’ | The Independent | The Independent

There are different types of ports, and Christina went with a power port. Source: Breast Cancer Survivor Talks About Her Personal Experience With A Chemo Port Implant | The Breast Cancer Site Blog

No matter how many pamphlets a patient reads or documents someone peruses, those items rarely tell the whole story. Here are five things medical professionals might not tell a cancer patient. Source: 5 Things People Never Tell You About Chemo | The Breast Cancer Site Blog

In this video, oncologist Melissa Wilson, MD, PhD, explains how the new, FDA-approved immunotherapy attacks cancer cells differently than traditional chemotherapy. Source: How Is Immunotherapy Different from Chemotherapy? – HealthiNation

Researchers from Australia’s Flinders University say that as many as 25 percent of chemotherapy and radiotherapy patients develop heart failure as a result of their treatment. Perhaps even more concerningly, most of these patients have little to no knowledge of the risks to their heart health because their doctors failed to inform them about it. […]

The new study comes as alarming laboratory tests detected PFAS in tap water sampled across the country. Source: PFAS “Forever Chemicals” Found in Tap Water Linked to Cancer Risks

Israeli firm Alpha Tau Medical has developed a new cancer treatment that attacks tumors while sparing healthy tissue. The treatment is called Alpha DaRT (Diffusing Alpha-emitters Radiation Treatment), according to The Jerusalem Post. Source: New Israeli Cancer Treatment Has a 100% Tumor Shrinkage Rate

The following examples show overall survival rates for people with different types of cancer, along with the percentage of those receiving chemotherapy as part of their treatment. Source: Chemotherapy: Success rates for different cancers

Researchers from the Czech Republic hope this could be a ‘gentler’ form of chemo, with conventional treatments ‘poisoning’ cells and causing nasty side effects Source: Chemical found only in breast milk ‘breaks tumours into tiny fragments’ – Nexus Newsfeed

Reducing the interval between chemotherapy treatment cycles or administering chemotherapy medications sequentially at higher doses, rather than simultaneously at lower doses, increases treatment efficacy and decreases the risk of breast cancer recurrence and death, a study suggests. Source: In BC, High Chemotherapy Dose May Lower Recurrence, Death, Study Says

Mouth sores are common during cancer treatment. Get details on causes, prevention and treatment. Source: Mouth sores caused by cancer treatment: How to cope – Mayo Clinic

Rodent studies demonstrated that fasting prior to the administration of chemotherapy prolongs survival, decreases metastasis, and reduces toxicity.   Source: Intermittent Fasting and Cancer – Cancer Therapy Advisor

An NIH study finds patients treated with chemotherapy for most solid tumors had an increased risk of tMDS/AML, a rare but often fatal type of leukemia. Source: Study finds higher risk of rare blood cancer after chemo – National Cancer Institute

An NIH study finds patients treated with chemotherapy for most solid tumors had an increased risk of tMDS/AML, a rare but often fatal type of leukemia. Source: Study finds higher risk of rare blood cancer after chemo – National Cancer Institute

C Patients older than age 65 with breast cancer are at an increased risk of developing toxicity associated with adjuvant chemotherapy.  “We developed and validated a risk score that identifies an older patient’s risk for adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy toxicity,” the researchers stated. Source: Risk Score Identifies Adjuvant Chemotherapy Toxicity Risk in Elderly Patients With Breast […]

The results may herald a new era in which doctors make smarter decisions about how much is enough when treating different cancers. “This is the dawn of the de-escalation era,” says Hurvitz. “We need to move forward looking for ways to de-escalate therapy that is not just limiting quality of life, but also potentially harming […]

Two recent studies detail a natural mechanism that, if harnessed properly, may be able to destroy cancer cells and their ability to become resistant to treatment — without any of the side effects of chemotherapy. Source: Nature’s ‘kill code’ may destroy cancer

While intravenous chemotherapy can be life-saving, it can also be inconvenient and potentially painful. The individual has to go to the hospital or a clinic for treatment and will need an IV port.Oral chemotherapy can make a person feel as though they have more control over their treatment.These drugs usually come in pill form, but […]

The best option for preventing neuropathy is by using a chemotherapy drug that is not likely to cause CIPN.However, this is not always possible as cancer treatment is diagnosis-specific, which means the most effective drug may also be one that causes unpleasant side effects. Source: Neuropathy from chemo: Remedies and treatments

For the first time researchers looked at the numbers of cancer patients who died within 30 days of starting chemotherapy, which indicates that the medication is the cause of death, rather than the cancer. The research showed that cancer drugs are killing up to 50 per cent of patients in some hospitals.     Source: Chemotherapy warning […]

When mice implanted with human breast cancer cells were treated with chemotherapy alone, almost 75% eventually developed metastases in the bones. But when given an anti-integrin antibody before chemotherapy, only 22% did. Source: Sensitizing Dormant Tumor Cells to Chemotherapy – National Cancer Institute

“If you think about it, cancer cells have evolved in the presence of lots of nutrients, lots of sugar, lots of proteins and amino acids. That’s exactly what they like. That’s what they’re used to [having, and] when you take that away and add chemotherapy or radiotherapy or potentially newer therapies, now the therapies can be much more effective,” Longo explains

The study found that treatment with chemotherapy and hormone therapy after surgery is not more beneficial than treatment with hormone therapy alone for many breast cancer patients. This includes women with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, axillary lymph node–negative breast cancer (meaning the cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes).

Gene expression profiling tests (Oncotype DX, MammaPrint, others) analyze a number of different genes within your cancer cells to predict your risk of cancer recurrence.
The results of gene expression profiling tests help doctors determine who may benefit from additional (adjuvant) treatment after surgery. For women with early-stage breast cancer that is sensitive to hormones, gene expression profiling tests are used to determine whether they are likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

Genetics can help to tell you your risk for getting cancer, while genomics can help once you have cancer to choose your course of care.

Experts say the three tests – Oncotype DX, EndoPredict and Prosigna – will, in future, enable women to have much more personalised treatment. The costs of the tests is not known but it is likely that their manufacturers have significantly reduced the price since January.

“It is thought the toxic medication switches on a repair mechanism in the body which ultimately allows tumors to grow back stronger. It also increases the number of ‘doorways’ on blood vessels which allow cancer to spread throughout the body.”

Scientists have uncovered a protein that fuels tumor growth in aggressive breast cancer. The findings may help tackle treatment-resistant tumors.

A new optical imaging system developed at Columbia University uses red and near-infrared light to identify breast cancer patients who will respond to chemotherapy. The imaging system may be able to predict response to chemotherapy as early as two weeks after beginning treatment.