Chemo

Chemotherapy in oncology is a section of chemotherapy that includes the targeted use of therapeutic drugs that block or destroy certain cell functions. Depending on the purpose, different groups of substances are prescribed (antimetabolites, antitumor antibiotics, low molecular weight substances, etc.). Chemotherapy, including cytostatics and some other agents (cytostatic drugs), is used in combination antitumor therapy for various malignant neoplasms. Most drugs in this group act primarily on processes that ensure the flow of substances from the blood into the tumor tissue. Thus, its inhibitory effect on hematopoiesis (from the Greek myelos, myelonoös - bone marrow), as well as the antimyeloperoxidase activity of some cytostatics, are well known. Over the past decade, for various reasons, the value of the myelosuppressive effect in chronic diseases has decreased. By using chemicals in tumors of the mammary gland and ovaries, one can count on improving the effect of surgical and radiation treatment. In recent years, the attention of researchers has been attracted by the properties of tumor cells to adapt under the influence of cytostatic agents; these data characterize their resistance in comparison with more pliable “normal” cells of the body. In patients with tumors who have not previously received cytostatic therapy, as well as in patients with tumor metastases, chemotherapy as a method of primary therapy leads to a decrease in the number of tumor nodes from two or three to one or less. These indicators of tumor progression cannot be used as a guide when using chemotherapy as a means of palliative therapy and symptomatic treatment of cancer patients in the late stages of the disease.