Cancer, Drug Treatments for

Cancer drugs, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, biological treatments, and genetic treatments are drug treatments used to destroy cancer cells. Cancer drugs can treat, prolong life, or improve quality of life. Chemotherapy drugs (cytotoxic) can slow down the growth of cancer cells or stop cancer cells from multiplying. Generally, chemotherapy drugs can harm healthy cells as they also work to help cancer cells die naturally. There are several groups of cancer cells based on [Page 309]how they work, their chemical structure, and their relationship to another drug. Some drugs act in more than one way, so they can be used for several groups of cancer drugs. How the drug works help to predict side effects. If more than one drug is used, oncologists can decide what drugs ...