Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of disease by chemicals especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen.

What is Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy literally refers to the treatment of certain diseases using specific chemicals that are destructive to malignant cells or to the causative agent of a disease such as a bacteria or virus. Therefore, the treatment can be broadly divided into two categories - cancer chemotherapy and antimicrobial chemotherapy.

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

Chemotherapy Types

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy Principles

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

History of Chemotherapy

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Newly identified enzyme protects growth protein in leukemia cells

A research team has identified an enzyme that helps acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells survive by protecting c-MYC, a protein that drives cell growth, from degradation.

13 Nov 2026

New hybrid approach intensifies treatment for liver tumor metastases

Combining intraarterial and intravenous administration of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) can selectively intensify treatment for liver-dominant metastatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) while still effectively delivering treatment throughout the whole body.

13 Nov 2026

Drug combination shows long-term survival in advanced thymic cancer

Final results from the phase 2 PECATI clinical trial demonstrate encouraging long-term survival outcomes with the combination of lenvatinib and pembrolizumab in patients with previously treated advanced B3-thymoma and thymic carcinoma.

13 Nov 2026

New surgical approaches aim to improve stomach cancer outcomes

Sometimes innovation in cancer care means developing something entirely new. Other times, it means returning to an old idea with the knowledge and tools to make it work better.

12 Nov 2026

Clinical trial of triple combination therapy reveals clues to lung cancer treatment resistance

In a new clinical trial, researchers have interrogated how patients with an aggressive form of lung cancer respond to treatment with a triple combination therapy.

12 Nov 2026

Researchers uncover how surrounding cells fuel triple-negative breast cancer growth

Triple-negative breast cancer, which accounts for approximately 10–15% of all breast cancer cases, is considered particularly difficult to treat because it grows rapidly and carries a high risk of recurrence.

12 Nov 2026

Innovative organ-on-a-chip shows how tumors grow and interact with their surroundings

On an organ-on-a-chip researchers can now explore how tumours grow and interact with their surroundings.

12 Nov 2026

Yale Cancer Center offers team-based care for breast cancer patients

Hilary Axtmayer can pinpoint the moment her life changed. In 2023, Axtmayer-then a 40-year-old mother of two from Madison, Conn.-was receiving her regularly scheduled breast exam when her gynecologist paused mid-palpation. She'd found a lump.

12 Nov 2026

New method reveals how individual glioblastoma cells spread through the brain

By combining live imaging of brain tissue with artificial intelligence, researchers at Uppsala University have developed a method that reveals how individual glioblastoma cells spread through the brain, how they can switch between different ways of moving, and how they are affected by cancer treatments. An

12 Nov 2026

Childhood cancer survival reaches nearly 90%, yet disparities remain

Nearly nine in 10 young people with cancer were alive five years after diagnosis by 2017 – up from six in 10 in 1975, according to first comprehensive update of U.S. childhood cancer survival statistics in over a decade published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

11 Nov 2026

Oral leukemia therapy offers effective at-home care for older adults

For years, older patients with acute myeloid leukemia-an aggressive cancer of the blood and bone marrow-have needed clinic injections five to seven days a month, plus a daily oral pill. For these older patients, that clinic schedule can be quite demanding.

11 Nov 2026

Yourgene Health Insight DPYD assay secures TGA regulatory approval in Australia

Yourgene Health (part of the Novacyt Group), an international molecular diagnostics company with a broad portfolio of integrated technologies and services, announces Australian regulatory approval for its Yourgene® Insight DPYD assay.

From Yourgene Health 11 Nov 2026

Chemotherapy may accelerate biological aging in breast cancer survivors

Chemotherapy helps many women survive breast cancer, but new research suggests that chemotherapy may also accelerate biological aging beyond chronological age and increase the risk of earlier death from other causes.

10 Nov 2026

New patient-centered initiative aims to accelerate pediatric AML research and treatments

Blood Cancer United today announced the launch of Dare to Dream REALworld: AML, a patient-centered initiative co-founded with Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research.

10 Nov 2026

Mayo Clinic research advances treatment options for genitourinary cancers

Cancers of the reproductive and urinary organs, known as genitourinary cancers, affect millions of people worldwide each year. Yousef Zakharia, M.D., a Mayo Clinic medical oncologist, leads clinical research aimed at improving treatment results for patients with kidney, bladder and prostate cancers.

10 Nov 2026

New treatment approach could help people with muscle-invasive bladder cancer live longer

A new treatment approach could help people with an aggressive form of bladder cancer live longer and reduce the chances of their cancer returning or progressing, particularly those who cannot receive standard chemotherapy, according to findings from a large international clinical trial co-led by researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

9 Nov 2026

Blocking complement factor B halts pancreatic cancer growth

Researchers have identified a promising new target in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. A new study in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, demonstrates that blocking complement factor B (CFB), a pivotal enzyme in the alternative complement pathway, halts cancer growth and alters the tumor microenvironment.

9 Nov 2026