What is the second line chemotherapy?
The term chemotherapy or chemo, usually concerns the use of drugs to treat cancer. Initial chemotherapy regime administered after cancer diagnosis is often called first -line chemotherapy. Despite their potential for success, some patients experience their cancer or relapse after the first line chemotherapy. These patients are usually offered another cycle of treatment with various medicines. This is known as the second line chemotherapy.
Cancer treatment may include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, although sometimes chemotherapy can be separate therapy. The first line chemo is generally aimed at inducing remission and may even be therapeutic in some cases. The second line chemotherapy concerns a number of drugs available to people whose disease has expanded or has been repeated despite initial treatment. This type of therapy can be aimed at improving the quality of life and reducing cancer -related symptoms. Treatment can also prolong the life of the patient, the alchemotherapy of the second line is rarely of the treatmentEbná.
Therapeutic regimens for second line chemotherapy usually include different drugs than previous treatment. Many factors affect what drugs will be used, including the patient's reaction to the first line chemotherapy, weighing any potential benefits that may have a new drug against its risks and how quickly relapse. The type of cancer and the spread of diseases also plays an important role in determining the best therapeutic approach.
The use of a second line chemotherapy for people with certain heavy, advanced and aggressive cancer forms is controversial among doctors. Medical studies indicate poor long -term survival in these circumstances. Despite these findings, each case is unique and multi -factorial. The standard of care dictates chemotherapy of the second line to patients with recurrence of the disease. In fact, some patients can continue chemotherapy of the third or fourth lines if they are experiencing additional relapses.
Reagents with one chemotherapy are sometimes used, but more commonly with treatment includes a combination of drugs. Medicines can be administered orally through intramuscular or subcutaneous injections or intravenously. Sometimes the catheter can be used to supply medicines directly to the affected area or backbone, depending on the form of cancer and its scope.
chemotherapeutic drugs usually work by killing fast dividing cells in the body, because cancer cells are usually divided faster than healthy cells. This type of treatment can also kill healthy cells that are divided at fast speeds, and this is most evident in hair, with a certain degree of hair loss is a very common side effect of most chemotherapeutic substances. This is usually reversible after treatment. The use of chemotherapy is associated with a number of potentially serious side effects, some of which may be long -term. These include nausea, increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections, anemia, cognitiDysfunction and loss of fertility.