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Question

Chemotherapy is a drug based treatment method for cancer. Which of the following statements is incorrect regarding chemotherapy?


A
It cannot be used with other treatments and is called a local treatment
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B
It can travel throughout the body and kill cancer cells that spread to different parts of the body
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C
It involves the use of medicines or drugs to treat cancer
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D
The anticancer drugs can be administered through shots or intravenously
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Solution

The correct option is A It cannot be used with other treatments and is called a local treatment

Cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body. There are various treatment methods for cancer. It include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

Chemotherapy refers to medicines or drugs that are used to treat cancer. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment as the drug travels throughout the body, and can kill cancer cells that have even spread (metastasized) to different parts of the body, far away from the original location or primary tumor.

Hence chemotherapy is different from treatments like surgery and radiation. Surgery removes localized cancerous mass. Radiation therapy exposes the body cells to radiations like X-rays, protons or other types of energy to kill the cancer cells.
Such treatments are called local treatments because they affect a selected part of the body.

Cancer cells form new cells more quickly than normal cells and this makes them a better target for chemotherapeutic drugs. However, it is difficult for chemotherapeutic drugs to identify the cancerous cells specifically. So, normal cells are also damaged along with the cancer cells.

The drugs are administered by mouth, in shots or intravenously. The drug is often introduced in the body through a thin needle placed in the vein of the lower arm. Chemotherapy may also be given through catheters or ports, sometimes with the help of a pump.

Figure : Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy can be used along with other treatments as well:
  • Making the tumor smaller in size before surgery or radiation therapy using chemotherapy.
  • Chemotherapy is used to destroy cancer cells that may remain after surgery or radiation therapy.
  • Chemotherapy is used to kill cancer cells that have metastasized (spread to other areas) after surgery.

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