Oral cavity cancer treatment with chemotherapy

The feature of oral cancer is rapid growth and cell division. It is the basis of chemotherapy. Toxic substances travel throughout the body with blood flow. They kill rapidly dividing cells and slow down or stop their growth. Chemotherapy affects the whole body, but at the same time, most healthy cells may recover. Chemotherapy for oral cavity cancer is part of a comprehensive treatment. It can be prescribed as a supplement to surgery, before or after it, as an independent method, and in combination with radiotherapy. Treatment regimens are based on the simultaneous use of several groups of cytostatics. Such polychemotherapy reduces the risks of developing protective mechanisms in cancer cells and increases the treatment effectiveness. As a rule, chemotherapy is carried out in courses with breaks of 2 weeks. After that, medications are taken according to a schedule, followed by a rest period. However, chemo cycle schedules can be once a week, every three or four weeks. Medications for oral cavity cancer are usually administered orally or intravenously. Yet, in some cases, doctors practice selective intra-arterial chemotherapy. For this purpose, a catheter is inserted into the lingual artery. Due to this, the dose of the active substance reaches the highest values in the affected area, which reduces side effects.