chemothereapy?

Question

what happens when someone with leukemia goes for chemo and radiotherapy?

how is chemo and radiotherapy done?

Answer 1

Chemo is normally delivered via an intravenous drip.

This can be via a catheter inserted into the vein for each delivery or via a semi-permanent implant that is inserted and left in place for the entire course of treatment.

The pros and cons of each option need to be discussed withyour oncologist.

Radiation can be internal or external. Internal radiation is given via an inplant, usually ofer a short time span (1 -2 days) of continual treatment. Externally it is administered in much the same way as an x-ray. The patient is placed into position (often lying or reclining), the position is checked via lasers for accuracy, then the technitians leave and the correct dose is administered, usually only a matter of second or minutes. This is done daily for several days (commonly 25) in a row.

Both of these treatments are aimed at destroying cancer cells. They do this by destroying fast reproducing cells so things like hair, mouth lining, skin, blood cell production etc are also affected.

While undergoing treatment the patient is at high risk of catching infections.

Once treatment stops, the body returns to normal, hopefully without the cancer!

Answer 2

I cant answer about Radiotherapy hun but my personal experience of Chemo is I had 12 sessions, the first 4 were each given every 21 days by iv drip, I had to have it the same day & time each time, then I had 8 day 1 & day 8 treetments, these lasted (day 1) 5 hours by iv drip & (day 8) 2 hours by iv drip then 14 day break, again this is my own experience & each person can react in different ways but I felt like sh*t all the time, I lost all my hair, put on 4 stone because of steroids & not being able to exercise, had the mother of all mouth ulcers, felt sick the whole time. But am now a 4 year survivor!!! Good luck

Answer 3

radiation therapy and chemotherapy both act to retard the growth of cancer cells or kill them altogether. cancer cells are cells that generally divide rapidly(with a few exceptions) hence it is vital that their growth and spread be arrested. radiation therapy can be done by implants(internally) or radiation sessions(external). in internal radiation an implant is placed very close to the affected area and kept there for some time. in this case the patient is placed on radiation precaution meaning the patient plus all his body fluids are radioactive and not safe to approach for extended minutes(more than 30 mins). in external radiation the patient is just subjected to radiation therapy sessions and therefore is not considered radioactive anymore after the session hence safe to approach. in chemotherapy drugs are introduced intravenously. this drug is basically a "poison" in that it kills the cancer cells but also affects healthy cells to a lesser degree but still negatively nonetheless. you can expect extreme nausea and vomiting with chemotherapy plus immunosupression which would put you at high risk for infections. there,hope this helps.:)

Answer 4

At 9ur present stage in medicen.... Chemo will put you into remission I* am there now after 7 treatments... I did lose all my hair and got pretty sick but now I feel pretty good and I am geting stroger each day.....