Breast cancer treatment with chemotherapy

Breast cancer treatment with chemotherapy uses drugs that destroy cancer cells. It can be prescribed before surgery, after it, or as the primary treatment in the advanced stages. Chemotherapy drugs destroy the DNA chain and interfere with malignant cell division. Each group of drugs has several different mechanisms of breast cancer cell damage. The doctor prescribes medications based on the degree of cancer aggressiveness, the size of the tumor in the breast, and the number of organs and lymph nodes affected by metastases. Systemic chemotherapy is carried out in several courses. Before each of them, general clinical and biochemical blood tests are required. An outpatient basis allows the patient not to change her usual lifestyle. As a rule, chemotherapy drugs are injected intravenously. Therefore, a port system is installed in the patient. It keeps the veins safe and allows the comfortable injection of medications. Before the first course, the doctor must tell the patient about the side effects and ways to correct them. Some side effects can be avoided. For example, using antiemetic drugs in advance can alleviate the condition after therapy. The patient is comfortably arranged on the couch, and chemotherapeutic drugs are injected under the supervision of an oncologist and a nurse. A mandatory break between courses helps the patient's body to recover.