Cancer is defined as cured when "all cancer cells have been eradicated," according to Drs. Jim E. Riviere and Mark G. Papich. Chemotherapy, an "application of drugs to kill or inhibit the growth of viruses or foreign cells in the body," is used to free the body of cancer cell growth. The total number of people currently having chemotherapy is unknown, and the survival rates for people who have undergone chemotherapy are at least 5 years old, since statistics are based on survival rates over a 5-year period.
Cancer Cells
Each cell has a center--the nucleus--containing chromosomes that are composed of genes. A genetic copy is created each time the cell divides. Once the body is fully grown, most cells simply remain at rest unless they are damaged, or they discard elements to retain health, such as the shedding of exterior skin cells. Cells replicate by dividing, and "...cancer cells divide much more often than most normal cells," according to Cancer Research UK. Cancer cells multiply into tumors. When cells divide, there is a greater risk for cancer, and this is the time during which chemotherapy is most effective in entering the cell to destroy the replication, killing the cancer cell and halting tumor growth.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy involves the introduction of chemicals, either orally as pills or capsules or as direct injection into the nucleus of each cell, to kill the cancer cell and to stop future cell division. When this process is done prior to surgery or radiation, the treatment is called "neoadjuvant" chemotherapy. Neoadjuvant treatment is used to reduce the size of the cancer and to improve the odds for a successful surgery or to add alternatives for treatment, such as a lumpectomy in place of the more radical mastectomy, according to Debra M. Ikeda, M.D.
Multiple Agent Chemotherapy
The use of combinations of anticancer chemotherapy drugs is called multiple- (or multi-) agent chemo. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) reports that treatment for blood cancers usually involves two or more drugs. Cancer cells have the ability to adapt to drug therapy, and so treatment includes "...several new classes of drugs with different mechanisms of action," according to the LLS. New drugs include inhibitors, hypomethylating or demethylating agents, and immunomodulators and monoclonal antibody treatments. Chemo prescriptions are given after consideration of the type of cancer, the stage of the disease, prior treatments and the stage of the cancer in developing a resistance to drug therapy.
