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.

History of Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy Principles

Chemotherapy Types

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

How Chemotherapy Affects Daily Living

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

New study reveals why colorectal cancer is more aggressive in youth

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers, along with Mass General Brigham researchers from the Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, and the Broad Institute, have uncovered biological clues to why colorectal cancer can behave more aggressively in younger people.

29 Oct 2026

Narrow surgical margins may safely remove childhood soft tissue sarcomas

It's a question that surgeons often face: How much surrounding healthy tissue should they take out when removing a patient's cancer to be sure it is fully eliminated? Removing more can sacrifice nearby nerves, blood vessels, tendons and even joints, with lasting effects on quality of life.

28 Oct 2026

Lab-on-a-chip technology helps predict childhood leukemia treatment responses

More than 120,000 people in the U.S. are living with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and 6,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Of those, more than 3,500 will be in children.

27 Oct 2026

Patients with a form of advanced lung cancer lived 56 percent longer without their disease progressing after receiving radiotherapy in addition to standard treatment

Patients with an advanced form of lung cancer lived 56 percent longer without their disease progressing when radiotherapy was added to the standard of care whole-body therapy, including chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy, according to initial results from a clinical trial presented at the 2026 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress.

27 Oct 2026

New alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical therapy achieves strong responses in advanced prostate cancer

A new alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical therapy (RPT) for advanced prostate cancer was well tolerated, with no dose-limiting toxicities observed, and showed encouraging signs of antitumor activity, according to a phase 1 trial published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine's Late-Breaking Fast Track.

26 Oct 2026

Immunotherapy combination sets a new standard of care for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer

In patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), tarlatamab, a bispecific T-cell engager, plus durvalumab as first-line maintenance therapy extended median overall survival by more than eight months, more than tripled progression-free survival, and reduced the risk of death by 58% compared to durvalumab alone, according to results of the phase 3 open-label, multicenter, randomized DeLLphi-305 study, which was presented by Jacob Sands, MD, Associate Chief of the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, during the Presidential Symposium at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026 in Madrid, Spain, on Oct. 24.

26 Oct 2026

New drug effectively decreases recurrence of and death from endometrial cancer

A new drug is effective at decreasing recurrence of and death from endometrial cancer, a landmark international study shows.

26 Oct 2026

UCL scientists design symbolic AI digital twins to treat cancer

In a new paper published in Cell Reports Medicine, the UCL team outline how they, in collaboration with a University of Cambridge team, developed a new type of treatment-predicting computer program that uses an individual's detailed genetic fingerprint to explore which treatments, if any, may kill their cancer – especially when standard treatments have failed.

26 Oct 2026

Implantable drug-delivery device could help prevent recurrence of glioblastoma

Patients with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor, usually undergo surgery to remove the tumor. However, it's difficult for surgeons to remove all of the cancer cells, and the tumor often recurs.

26 Oct 2026

New archiving technique reveals past gene activity in cells

Information on what a cell did a few hours or days ago is generally unavailable to researchers, who can only measure the cell's current status.

26 Oct 2026

Phase 3 EMT2 trial demonstrates survival benefit for high-dose EPA

Patients assigned to receive high-dose eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), an omega-3 fatty acid, before and after surgery for colorectal cancer liver metastases had longer overall survival than those assigned to receive placebo, according to results of the phase 3 EMT2 trial presented at the ESMO Congress 2026.

26 Oct 2026

Abiraterone triplet therapy improves long-term survival in metastatic prostate cancer

Adding abiraterone to standard treatment provides a lasting survival benefit for men whose prostate cancer has already spread at diagnosis, reinforcing the value of early treatment intensification.

24 Oct 2026

Drug combination delivers promising survival gains in advanced endometrial cancer

An immunotherapy-based regimen combining durvalumab and the PARP inhibitor, olaparib, demonstrated encouraging long-term survival outcomes for patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer, according to new trial results presented by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

24 Oct 2026

Doctors explain why breast cancer screening should start at age 40

Advances in breast cancer screening and treatment are helping doctors detect the disease earlier, tailor therapies to individual patients and, in some cases, spare women from unnecessary chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

24 Oct 2026

Nearly one third of patients with advanced melanoma saw tumors disappear completely after receiving TIL therapy plus pembrolizumab immunotherapy

Results from a clinical trial have revealed nearly one third (29.2 percent) of patients with advanced melanoma saw their tumors disappear completely on scans after receiving lifileucel TIL therapy alongside an immune checkpoint inhibitor, pembrolizumab, as a first-line treatment.

24 Oct 2026

Six-gene score could improve survival predictions for acute myeloid leukemia

The activity of six different genes can help determine patient survival of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to a study published today in Science Advances.

23 Oct 2026

Study reveals how cancer cells survive chemotherapy in a zombie-like state

Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have made an important breakthrough in understanding how cancer cells can evade the cell-killing effects of chemotherapy and enter a "zombie-like state", called premature senescence, that can attract the wound healing properties of the immune system.

23 Oct 2026

KRAS-targeting vaccine prompts immune responses in pancreatic cancer patients

An investigational vaccine helped the immune system recognize and respond to mutations that drive most pancreatic cancers, according to results from a randomized phase 2 clinical trial led by Mayo Clinic researchers.

23 Oct 2026

Targeted drug extends survival across diverse pancreatic cancer patient groups

A new analysis of a phase 3 clinical trial found that the targeted drug daraxonrasib improved survival compared with standard chemotherapy across multiple groups of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, including those with different RAS mutations and those without an identified RAS mutation.

23 Oct 2026