When a woman receives an ovarian cancer diagnosis, the oncologist will likely recommended chemotherapy as part of her treatment course.
Identification
Chemotherapy medications are drugs used to destroy cancer cells in the ovaries and surrounding tissue. Chemotherapy works at halting the growth of cancerous cells, preventing them from spreading and dividing to nearby organs or the peritoneum.
Damage
Chemotherapy on the ovarian cancer patient can damage important cells of the human body during treatment. Examples include cells along the gastrointestinal tract area, red and white blood cells and hair follicle cells. It can also decrease blood platelets.
Side Effects
Physical side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, weakened immune system, anemia, shortness of breath, infection, hair loss and an increased risk of bleeding.
Administration Methods
For the ovarian cancer patient, chemotherapy can be administered intravenously, intraperitoneal, orally or by a series of injections. Intraperitoneal involves a flush of high doses of chemotherapy after surgery to help kill cancer cells that may have gone undetected or spread.
Brands
Popular types of chemotherapy include Cisplatin, paclitaxcel, doxorubicin, melphalan and carboplatin. If the patient does not respond to those drugs, more aggressive chemotherapy drugs are used such as hexamethylamine and topotecan hydrochloride.
