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.

Chemotherapy Principles

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

History of Chemotherapy

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy Types

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Vaginal estrogen therapy is safe for young endometrial cancer survivors, study finds

Despite the increased incidence of endometrial cancer in younger women, there is limited research regarding the safety of local, low-dose vaginal estrogen therapy (ET) for survivors.

4 Mar 2026

Study links high-fat diet to faster breast cancer progression

If you're diagnosed with breast cancer, what should you eat to ensure the best prognosis?

3 Mar 2026

Global breast cancer burden rising fastest in low-income countries

Despite recent advancements in breast cancer treatments, new breast cancer cases in women are predicted to rise by a third globally from 2.3 million in 2023 to more than 3.5 million in 2050.

2 Mar 2026

Study reveals hydration energetics as key to nanoparticle performance in medicine

Researchers at Arizona State University have uncovered a key scientific principle that governs how what's coated on the surfaces of engineered nanoparticles may ultimately control how they work in our bodies.

2 Mar 2026

Blocking growth hormone receptor may improve treatment response in lung cancer

Researchers at Ohio University have discovered what may be a new way to fight lung cancer that is resistant to other treatments.

2 Mar 2026

Can brain training prevent dementia? Long-term trial shows speed training with boosters makes a difference

A 20-year follow-up of older adults in the ACTIVE randomized trial linked to Medicare claims found that speed of processing cognitive training with booster sessions was associated with a significantly lower risk of diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Memory and reasoning training did not show comparable long-term reductions in dementia risk.

2 Mar 2026

Remote ischemic conditioning shields the heart from chemotherapy damage

Advances in cancer treatment mean that more people than ever are surviving the disease. However, some of the most effective anticancer drugs-a class of medicines called anthracyclines-can cause serious damage to the heart.

2 Mar 2026

Blood biomarker guides bladder-sparing treatment decisions for cancer patients

Circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, can predict metastatic risk in patients who receive bladder-sparing treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, but it is not a good predictor of local recurrence within the bladder, according to new data presented today by Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers.

27 Feb 2026

Serial liquid biopsies reveal evolution in advanced prostate cancer

A new study using serial liquid biopsies to track how metastatic prostate cancer evolves under treatment pressure showed that androgen receptor (AR) alterations consistently emerged and were linked to poorer outcomes across therapies.

26 Feb 2026

Neem compound gedunin shows promise against pancreatic cancer

Ramadevi Subramani Reddy, Ph.D., remembers the neem tree from her childhood in India - a plant her grandmother used to treat everything from fevers to infections.

26 Feb 2026

Fifteen-year follow up reveals cure potential in follicular lymphoma

Unlike some other forms of lymphoma, advanced stage follicular lymphoma is considered incurable. But a new analysis of long-term data on patients treated for the disease years ago with standard regimens of immunotherapy and a chemotherapy combination known as CHOP suggests that many of those patients can now be considered cured.

26 Feb 2026

Exercise during chemotherapy boosts breast cancer patients' quality of life

For many women with breast cancer, the very treatment that saves their lives can also bring fatigue, loss of muscle mass, emotional strain and other daunting obstacles.

26 Feb 2026

Targeting glutamine metabolism offers new hope for synovial sarcoma treatment

Synovial sarcoma is an aggressive malignant tumor that primarily affects the limbs of teenagers and young adults.

26 Feb 2026

Phase 2 clinical trial tests LMP744 for the treatment of first-time recurrent glioblastoma

Gibson Oncology, a clinical-stage private pharmaceutical company headquartered in Miami, announced it has entered Phase 2 clinical trials with LMP744 for the treatment of first-time recurrent glioblastoma patients.

25 Feb 2026

Breakthrough gene therapy for sickle cell disease remains out of reach in Africa

As Uganda rolls out mandatory nationwide screening of newborns for sickle cell disease this month, a gene therapy celebrated in the United States and Europe remains financially out of reach for most patients in Africa.

25 Feb 2026

Democrats decry meager medical care for detainees in funding fight

Fernando Viera Reyes needed a biopsy for possible prostate cancer when the Trump administration sent him to an immigration detention center in California's Mojave Desert.

25 Feb 2026

Assessing long-term cognitive risks in ependymoma survivors

A study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital assessed cognitive and communication abilities in children treated for the brain tumor ependymoma to understand the impact of treatment better. They found that radiation was a significant contributor to hearing loss, a risk directly linked to cognitive health.

23 Feb 2026

Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center delivers Louisiana’s first TIL therapy for melanoma

Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center at The Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer Center in New Orleans announces a milestone in advanced cancer treatment, as the first institution in Louisiana to provide an adult patient with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapy for advanced melanoma.

23 Feb 2026

As more Americans embrace anxiety treatment, MAHA derides medications

After a grueling year of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation to treat breast cancer, Sadia Zapp was anxious — not the manageable hum that had long been part of her life, but something deeper, more distracting.

23 Feb 2026

Distinct gut toxicity patterns emerge with targeted cancer treatments

A new paper was published in Volume 13 of Oncoscience on February 6, 2026, titled "Gastrointestinal toxicity of targeted cancer therapies in the United States: Clinicopathologic patterns, FDA safety frameworks, and implications for national patient protection."

20 Feb 2026