Many patients with cancer will face the need for chemotherapy, and some patients ask me directly: "Director Joe, is the chemotherapy for cancer going to lose hair?" I watch people in TV dramas like this. ”
Chemotherapy is an important way to treat cancer, but many patients are worried about various adverse reactions. 50-year-old Lao Zhang had to undergo chemotherapy because of his unfortunate lung cancer, and each chemotherapy was an extremely torturous thing for him, and before each chemotherapy he said: "Ah? Chemotherapy again, when will it end? ”
At the beginning of chemotherapy, Lao Zhang had some loss of appetite, nausea, and always wanted to throw up, and at the beginning he asked me: "Doctor, is it because you prescribed the wrong medicine that I will have such a big reaction?" ”
I patiently explained to him: "Chemotherapy will have many adverse reactions, but I still hope that you can stick to it, for your current condition chemotherapy is a more appropriate treatment, not suitable for surgery for the time being." ”
Lao Zhang heard me say this, but also gritted his teeth and persevered, with the increase in the number of chemotherapy, Lao Zhang's adverse reactions have become more and more serious, and when I went to the inpatient department to see him, people also seemed to be more and more haggard.
Fortunately, at lao Zhang's insistence, he survived the arduous chemotherapy treatment, and the control of cancer cells through chemotherapy drugs showed signs of shrinking, so I immediately arranged surgery for him and finally successfully fought the cancer cells.
Nowadays, modern medicine still regards cancer as a problem that is always difficult to overcome, and the "king of cancer" lung cancer is even more so, lung cancer is often found to be advanced, basically missing the best time for surgery, so in the treatment of lung cancer, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted drugs and other treatment methods are particularly important.
Chemotherapy is an important means of treating cancer, for you to popularize the "basic common sense" of chemotherapy
What exactly is chemotherapy? Is it possible that chemotherapy causes hair loss? Today I would like to talk to you about some things about chemotherapy.
First of all, we often say chemotherapy: it refers to the use of chemical drugs to kill tumor cells. Chemotherapy drugs are generally divided into oral drugs and intravenous chemotherapy drugs, and in our treatment, intravenous chemotherapy drugs are generally the mainstay.
Why chemotherapy? Because the characteristics of chemotherapy are that the drugs of chemotherapy will enter the blood circulation of our human body, and the drugs will reach all parts of our body with blood circulation, which will not only kill the lesions on the lungs, but also kill most of the tumor cells spread throughout the body.
It is precisely because chemotherapy treatment has its characteristics, so it plays an important role in our treatment of cancer, chemotherapy can delay the recurrence and metastasis of lung cancer patients, prolong the survival of patients, which is the global scientists, doctors agree.
Chemotherapy is also cyclical, you know? It is common to have these 3 cycles
In the outpatient clinic, it is often heard that the patient or the patient's family asks: "Does the doctor have to keep doing chemotherapy?" Isn't this a "bottomless pit"? It's expensive. ”
In fact, chemotherapy does not need to be done all the time, it has a cycle. However, how long chemotherapy needs to be done depends on the type and stage of lung cancer, and in general, we need 4 to 6 cycles of chemotherapy after surgery.
The duration of cycles varies from chemotherapy regimen to regimen, with common ones being 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks. However, some types of lung cancer require maintenance therapy after 4 to 6 cycles.
Chemotherapy may have 5 side effects, so be prepared in advance
1. Nausea and vomiting: it may be caused by the irritation of chemotherapy drugs to the stomach and intestines.
2. Hair loss: Chemotherapy drugs contain doxorubicin, yew and other drugs, which will damage hair follicle cells and cause hair loss.
3. Anemia: Patients will cause anemia due to lack of nutrition.
4. Taste disorder: during chemotherapy, the drug will cause damage to salivary gland cells, resulting in taste disorder.
5. Paralysis of hands and feet: some chemotherapy drugs have drugs such as paclitaxel, which will cause neurotoxicity, which will cause paralysis of hands and feet.
In fact, in addition to the above common side effects, chemotherapy may also cause allergic reactions (rash), skin darkening, liver and kidney poisoning, myocarditis, bone marrow suppression and other adverse reactions, severe septic shock, and may even be life-threatening. Therefore, during chemotherapy, patients should pay close attention to their own situation, timely feedback to the doctor on the recovery situation, and can not be taken lightly.
Of course, in clinical treatment, doctors will take a series of measures to prevent or alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy drugs, and everyone does not have to feel that it will be dangerous.