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Cancer cells grow and divide uncontrollably. Chemotherapy destroys the cancer cells and prevents them from multiplying.

Your oncologist may use chemotherapy in different ways:

• Adjuvant therapy: Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells after surgery or radiation therapy.
• Curative therapy: Chemotherapy (which may also include radiation and/or surgery) eliminates the cancer, and it doesn’t return.
• Neoadjuvant therapy: Chemotherapy shrinks a tumor before surgery or radiation therapy.
• Palliative therapy: Chemotherapy shrinks tumors and lessens symptoms but doesn’t cure the cancer.

Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment. Also called “chemo,” it’s one of several cancer treatments that use drugs against various types of cancer. Other drug therapies include:

• Hormone therapy: Drugs that prevent certain cancers from getting the hormones they need to grow.
• Immunotherapy: Drugs that help your immune system fight cancer.
• Targeted therapy: Drugs that change how cancer cells multiply and behave.

A medical oncologist oversees treatment. These healthcare providers specialize in chemotherapy and other cancer-fighting drugs.

Chemotherapy may get used with surgery or radiation therapy to treat cancer.

The type and dose of chemotherapy your health care provider gives you depends on many different things, including:

• The type of cancer you have
• Where the cancer first showed up in your body
• What the cancer cells look like under a microscope
• Whether the cancer has spread (metastasized)
• Your age and general health

All cells in the body grow by splitting into two cells, or dividing. Others divide to repair damage in the body. Cancer occurs when something causes cells to divide and grow out of control. They keep growing to form a mass of cells, or tumor.

Chemotherapy attacks dividing cells. This means that it is more likely to kill cancer cells than normal cells. Some types of chemotherapy damage the genetic material inside the cell that tells it how to copy or repair itself. Others types block chemicals the cell needs to divide.

Some normal cells in the body divide often, such as hair and skin cells. These cells also may be killed by chemo. That is why it can cause side effects like hair loss. But most normal cells can recover after treatment ends.

There are more than 100 different chemotherapy medicines. Below are the seven main types of chemotherapy, the types of cancer they treat, and examples. The caution includes things that differ from typical chemotherapy side effects.

ALKYLATING AGENTS

Used to treat:

• Leukemia
• Lymphoma
• Hodgkin disease
• Multiple myeloma
• Sarcoma
• Brain
• Cancers of the lung, breast, and ovary

Examples:

• Busulfan (Myleran)
• Cyclophosphamide
• Temozolomide (Temodar)

Caution:

• May damage bone marrow, which can lead to leukemia.

ANTIMETABOLITES

Used to treat:

• Leukemia
• Cancer of the breast, ovary, and intestinal tract

Examples:

• 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)
• 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP)
• Capecitabine (Xeloda)
• Gemcitabine

Caution: None

ANTI-TUMOR ANTIBIOTICS

Used to treat:

• Many types of cancer.

Examples:

• Dactinomycin (Cosmegen)
• Bleomycin
• Daunorubicin (Cerubidine, Rubidomycin)
• Doxorubicin (Adriamycin PFS, Adriamycin RDF)

Caution:

• High doses can damage the heart.

TOPOISOMERASE INHIBITORS

Used to treat:

• Leukemia
• Lung, ovarian, gastrointestinal, and other cancers

Examples:

• Etoposide
• Irinotecan (Camptosar)
• Topotecan (Hycamtin)

Caution:

• Some can make a person more likely to get a second cancer, called acute myeloid leukemia, within 2 to 3 years.

MITOTIC INHIBITORS

Used to treat:

• Myeloma
• Lymphomas
• Leukemias
• Breast or lung cancer

Examples:

• Docetaxel (Taxotere)
• Eribulin (Halaven)
• Ixabepilone (Ixempra)
• Paclitaxel (Taxol)
• Vinblastine

Caution:

• More likely than other types of chemotherapy to cause painful nerve damage.