Chemotherapy

Chemotherapeutic agents or anti-cancer drugs are used as a part of a standardized regimen in a category of cancer treatment known as chemotherapy. It is the one of the major categories of medical discipline specifically devoted to pharmacotherapy for cancer that may be given with combination of drugs with a curative intent or to reduce symptoms. In chemotherapy the drugs are introduced into the blood stream and therefore they can address cancer at any anatomic location in the body this constitutes a systematic therapy.

It is often used in conjunction with other modalities such as radiation therapy, surgery etc. Traditional chemotherapeutic agents are cytotoxic by means of interfering with cell division (mitosis) but cancer cells vary widely in their susceptibility to these agents. To a large extent, chemotherapy can be thought of as a way to damage or stress cells, which may then lead to cell death if apoptosis is initiated.