Also, before the 1950s, if you were admitted into a hospital with a cancer that could not be treated with surgery, it was understood you were there to die. In the beginning of the 20th century, treatment for cancer consisted of removing small cancers and those that were easily removed by surgery. Later on, radiation therapy was used to prevent the growth of those tumors that were not removed during surgery; then, chemotherapy was used to remove even smaller tumors that could not be removed by surgery or treated by radiation. The chemotherapy drug did not start out as a treatment at all. A chemical agent known as mustard gas was used in combat during World War I, and later studied during World War II.
A German chemist, Paul Ehrlich, who was experimenting treatments of syphilis with chemical methods, created the term “chemotherapy” (Bonander, 2011). It wasn’t until 1943 when the United State’s secret chemical weapon program discovered that nitrogen mustard, also know... ... middle of paper ... ... basis of nitrogen mustard. Theoritically, by treating the patient with poison, it will destroy all types of cells. Then hopefully, once the body is wiped clean, it will be able to recover without any trace of the disease. When this type of treatment is the main standard of fighting cancer, it is understandable that many turn to complementary and alternative medicines, including dietary supplements, natural products, or mind and body practices.
Cancer is a disease that which abnormal cells divide without control and are able to invade other tissues (“What is Cancer?”). The weapon of choice for many doctors in the war on cancer is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is the use of chemical substances, along with surgery and radiation, to treat cancer (“What is Chemotherapy?”). Patients suffering from the disease are pushed into surgery in order to extract the source of the cancer. Soon after, they place them under extreme radiation to burn off any remaining cancer cells.
These treatments are radiation therapy (which uses radiation to kill cancer cells); chemotherapy (which uses strong medications to kill cancer cells); and biological therapy. In some cases, at least a part of tumour can be taken out through surgery. But this is not the end of treatment. After surgery, sick people may need radiotherapy or chemotherapy to keep the tumour from growing again. One big problem of treating cancer is that most things that kill cancer cells are also kills normal and healthy cells.
Chemotherapy Effects in Cancer Patients When we hear the words, cancer treatment, our minds naturally shoot straight to chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is one of the most commonly used ways to treat cancer. Chemotherapy did not have original plans to treat cancer patients, but it did have other plausible problems to aid. After WWII, lymphoma, a form of chemotherapy, was used to help soldiers who were harmed by mustard gas (Chemo Brain, 2012). This medical advancement continued to progress into what we now know as chemotherapy.
For many years the standard methods used for cancer treatment are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or surgery. These treatments use drugs that are designed to kill the rapidly dividing cancerous cells aggressively and are effective, but they do however, kill many healthy cells of an individual and result in severe side affects. It wasn't until the past few decades that the emergence of a new approach to cancer therapy has gained attention. Researchers have been focusing on the idea of cancer immunotherapy. The first immunotherapy maneuver was done back in 1860.
Chemo is like life, it had a beginning, it has a middle, and hopefully one day the need for chemotherapy will end. Chemotherapy was first discovered during World War II when naval personnel, who had been exposed to mustard gas, were found with toxic changes in their bone marrow cells. During the war, “the US Army was studying chemicals related to mustard gas to develop more effective agents for war and also develop protective measures.” This research led to the discovery of a compound called nitrogen mustard (“History of Cancer). Two pharmacologists, Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman, used nitrogen mustard to treat a patient who had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The tumor masses of the patient regressed, but “this remission, however, lasted only a few weeks, and disease again progressed, but the principle was establis... ... middle of paper ... ...ng Chemotherapy: A Guide for Patients and Families."
Chemotherapy: A way of poisoning the body to get rid of cancer. Chemotherapy comes packed with multiple serious side effects that can become permanent. If alternatives were looked into as much as Chemotherapy, an alternative would have already been discovered. Chemotherapy is not getting any better progress due to more preventable deaths and side effects are still harsh. "With some cancers, notably liver, lung, pancreas, bone and advanced breast, our 5 year survival from traditional therapy alone is virtually the same as it was 30 years ago."
This would allow physicians to work with the immune system of their patients, and together, maybe the cancer can be defeated. In addition, the study showed that chemotherapy significantly decreased the levels of anti cancer TAA cells. If those cells can somehow be revived, than a standard anti cancer chemotherapy regimen may actually be doing more harm than good. Physicians treat disease with the knowledge they have about how it works. Their treatments then, can only be effective if their knowledge is correct.
Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals to cure cancer. Chemotherapy is also known as “chemo”. The term for chemo came from the German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich around the year 1900. He came up with the term when he was examining aniline dyes and arsenicals as possible treatments for diseases such as syphilis. He envisioned “magic bullets” that would be able to target invading organisms but still leave the host unscathed.