Many patients with cancer will face the need for chemotherapy. Some patients directly asked me: “Director Qiao, will cancer chemotherapy cause hair loss. I think Those in other TV shows are like this.”
Chemotherapy is an important way to treat cancer, but many patients are worried about various adverse reactions. The 50-year-old Zhang had to undergo chemotherapy because he unfortunately had lung cancer. Each chemotherapy was a extremely tormenting event for him. Before each chemotherapy, he said, “Huh? Now, when will it end?”
In the early stage of chemotherapy, Lao Zhang had some loss of appetite, nausea, and always vomiting. At first, he asked me, “Doctor, do you prescribe The wrong medicine was prescribed, why would I have such a big reaction?”
I explained to him patiently: “Chemotherapy will have many adverse reactions, but I hope you can stick to it, chemotherapy is more suitable for your current condition The treatment is not suitable for surgery at the moment.”
Old Zhang heard me say this, and he gritted his teeth and persevered. With the the increase in the number of chemotherapy, the adverse reactions of Lao Zhang became more and more serious. When I went to see him in the inpatient department, he seemed to be getting more and more haggard.
Fortunately, with Lao Zhang’s insistence, he survived the arduous chemotherapy treatment, and the cancer cells showed signs of shrinking through the control of chemotherapy drugs. I immediately arranged for him to operate, Final success against cancer cells.
Today, modern medicine still regards cancer as a difficult problem that is always difficult to overcome, especially lung cancer, the “king of cancer”. Lung cancer is often found at an advanced stage, and the best time for surgery is basically missed. Therefore, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted drugs and other treatment methods are particularly important in the treatment of lung cancer.
Chemotherapy is an important means of treating cancer, and I will introduce you to the “basic knowledge” about chemotherapy
What exactly is chemotherapy? Does chemotherapy cause hair loss? Today I want to talk to you about something about chemotherapy.
First of all, chemotherapy as we often say: refers to the use of chemical drugs to kill tumor cells. Chemotherapy drugs are generally divided into oral drugs and intravenous chemotherapy drugs. In our treatment, intravenous chemotherapy drugs are generally the mainstay.
Why is chemotherapy used? Because the characteristic of chemotherapy is that the drugs of chemotherapy will enter the blood circulation of our body, and the drugs will reach all parts of our body with the blood circulation, which not only kills the lesions on the lungs, but also kills Most tumor cells spread throughout the body.
It is precisely because chemotherapy has its own characteristics that it plays an important role in our treatment of cancer. Chemotherapy can delay the recurrence and metastasis of lung cancer patients and prolong the survival period of patients< /strong>, this is the unanimous opinion of scientists and doctors around the world.
Chemotherapy also has cycles, did you know that? Commonly there are these 3 cycles
In outpatient clinics, patients or their family members are often heard asking: “Does the doctor have to keep doing chemotherapy? Isn’t this a “bottomless pit” It’s very expensive.”
Actually, chemotherapy does not need to be done all the time, it has a cycle. How long it takes to do chemotherapy depends on the type and stage of lung cancer. Generally speaking, we need 4 to 6 cycles of chemotherapy after surgery.
Different chemotherapy regimens have different cycles, but common ones are 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks. However, some types of lung cancer require maintenance therapy after 4 to 6 cycles.
5 possible side effects of chemotherapy, please prepare in advance
1. Nausea and vomiting: It may be caused by the stimulation of the stomach and intestines by chemotherapy drugs.
2. Hair loss: Chemotherapy drugs contain doxorubicin, taxane and other drugs, which can damage hair follicle cells and cause hair loss.
3. Anemia: Patients suffer from anemia due to lack of nutrition.
4. Disordered taste: Drugs can damage salivary gland cells during chemotherapy, resulting in disordered taste.
5. Paralysis of hands and feet: Some chemotherapy drugs, such as paclitaxel, can cause neurotoxicity and cause paralysis of hands and feet.
In fact, in addition to the common side effects mentioned above, chemotherapy may also cause allergic reactions (rash), skin darkening, liver and kidney toxicity, myocarditis, bone marrow suppression and other adverse effects In severe cases, septic shock may even be life-threatening. Therefore, during chemotherapy, patients should pay close attention to their own conditions and report their recovery to the doctor in a timely manner.
Of course, in clinical treatment, doctors will take a series of measures to prevent or reduce the side effects of chemotherapy drugs, and you don’t need to think it will be dangerous.