HIGH DOSE CHEMOTHERAPY “Long yet fruitful treatment of cancer”

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:08:53 +0000

Most of the people suffering from Cancer have no other option but to go for chemotherapy treatment as Chemotherapy is very helpful for treating people with cancer. The treatment of a cancer through chemotherapy is not the same in every type or every stage of cancer. The Oncologist decides on the dose that shall be given to the patient depending upon the serious of the disease. If the cancer cells recur again after the first chemotherapy treatment then high dose of chemotherapy treatment is given to the patient. For example the dose of chemotherapy is increased in order to stop the cancer cells from reproducing more cancerous cells in a person suffering from Lymphoma and there is recurrence of the disease. The high dose chemotherapy helps to shrink the nodes of the lymph and allows the patients to live for some more years longer, though it cannot completely stop the production of cancerous cells

There are various ways in which High dose Chemotherapy is used. Sometimes it is used along with radiotherapy, though it being used with radio therapy is not always prescribed for. The quantity of dose that shall be given to the patient by the doctor is determined according to the potential of the patient as well as the severe ness of the disease as well as the type of cancer. The doctors who have decided to use the treatment should be very careful about the side effects as high dose chemotherapy involves a treatment that is very serious as well as it is a difficult type of treatment .

Certain steps need to be followed by the doctor before the patient is subjected to high dose chemotherapy. When the patient is in good condition the Oncologist should first collect the cells of the stem which is also called the primary cell. Till the treatment of the high dose starts the cells that have been collected should be preserved by freezing it till the high dose chemotherapy starts.

The basic procedure involved in the High dose chemotherapy is Stem Cells harvesting. In order to increase the reproduction and growth of the stem cells in the blood the patient is given several injections. With the help of a needle that is placed in the arm blood is taken out, which is used for collection of stem cells .After the cell stem is collected the cell separator is used to supply the blood to the body. Cells of the stem are collected from the bone marrow and for this process general anesthesia requires to be given to the patient.

The High Dose chemotherapy is a very lengthy and complicated process. The bone marrow where the red blood cells are produced is completely destroyed as the patient is subjected to high dose chemotherapy. It is through injection or drip that the stem cells that are collected by the process of cell harvesting is injected into the body of the patient. This is done to bring back the patient to normal condition. The patient is required to stay in the hospital during the treatment as during the treatment period the patient becomes weak and can catch infections very fast.