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

History of Chemotherapy

What is 'Chemo Brain'?

Chemotherapy Principles

Does Scalp Cooling Prevent Hair Loss During Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy Treatment Schemes

Latest Chemotherapy News and Research

Drug combination can bypass cellular defenses in neuroblastoma

A discovery from Australian researchers could lead to better treatment for children with neuroblastoma, a cancer that currently claims 9 out of 10 young patients who experience recurrence.

29 Nov 2025

Early treatment of slow-growing brain tumors may worsen cognitive function

The treatment of a slow-growing brain tumor is often accompanied by impaired cognitive functions such as difficulties with shifting focus and impaired language ability.

28 Nov 2025

FOLFIRINOX shows promise as a second-line option for advanced biliary tract cancer

Biliary tract cancers, including intrahepatic, perihilar, and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder cancer, are among the most aggressive gastrointestinal malignancies.

27 Nov 2025

Breakthrough immunotherapy approved for treatment of adults with aggressive blood cancer

Adult patients with an aggressive form of leukemia will be able to receive a breakthrough immunotherapy, which was invented by UCL researchers, on the NHS within weeks following approval for use by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

27 Nov 2025

Polyamines restore gut regeneration in aging mice

With aging, the intestine gradually loses its ability to regenerate after damage. An international research team involving the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena and the University of Turin has now found that polyamines, small molecules produced naturally in the body, can play a decisive role in this process.

25 Nov 2025

Focused ultrasound combined with chemotherapy improves survival in glioblastoma patients

Patients with the deadliest form of brain cancer, glioblastoma, who received MRI-guided focused ultrasound with standard-of-care chemotherapy had a nearly 40 percent increase in overall survival in a landmark trial of 34 patients led by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers.

24 Nov 2025

Dexamethasone shows potential to fight therapy-resistant breast cancer metastases

The drug dexamethasone supplements cancer treatments to alleviate side effects of chemotherapy such as nausea or inflammation.

24 Nov 2025

New method can stop or reverse the decline of cellular energy production

Biomedical researchers at Texas A&M University may have discovered a way to stop or even reverse the decline of cellular energy production - a finding that could have revolutionary effects across medicine.

22 Nov 2025

World’s first experimental lung cancer vaccine to enter clinical trials

People at high risk of lung cancer will soon be able to receive the first ever experimental vaccine designed to prevent the disease, in a world-first clinical trial led by researchers at UCL and the University of Oxford.

22 Nov 2025

After series of denials, his insurer approved doctor-recommended cancer care. It was too late.

For nearly three years, Eric Tennant endured chemotherapy infusions, rounds of radiation, biopsies, and hospitalizations that left him weak and depleted.

21 Nov 2025

Scientists uncover molecular mechanism behind chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy

Chemotherapy activates a stress sensor in immune cells, triggering inflammation and nerve damage, which may help explain why many cancer patients experience debilitating pain as a side effect, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and Wake Forest University School of Medicine researchers

20 Nov 2025

Focused ultrasound can be safely used in children being treated for brain cancer

Columbia University researchers are the first to show that focused ultrasound - a non-invasive technique that uses sound waves to enhance the delivery of drugs into the brain - can be safely used in children being treated for brain cancer.

19 Nov 2025

Neoantigens-loaded DC vaccines show strong potential to overcome tumor resistance

Despite the success of immune checkpoint inhibitors in revolutionizing oncology, their benefits remain limited to a small fraction of patients.

19 Nov 2025

Novel therapy reduces tumor growth in models of triple-negative breast cancer

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified a promising new therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is among the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat forms of the disease.

18 Nov 2025

New transplant approach resets the immune system to stop Type 1 diabetes

A combination blood stem cell and pancreatic islet cell transplant from an immunologically mismatched donor completely prevented or cured Type 1 diabetes in mice in a study by Stanford Medicine researchers.

18 Nov 2025

Innovative CRISPR strategy resensitizes lung cancer to treatment

In a major step forward for cancer care, researchers at ChristianaCare's Gene Editing Institute have shown that disabling the NRF2 gene with CRISPR technology can reverse chemotherapy resistance in lung cancer.

17 Nov 2025

Novel model expands fertility options for cancer patients

In patients of reproductive age who have cancer, fertility preservation for potential children in the future should be a high priority.

17 Nov 2025

Synthesizing a powerful cancer-fighting molecule from sea sponges

Yale chemists have synthesized a complex, potentially cancer-fighting molecule found in sea sponges discovered off the coast of South Korea.

14 Nov 2025

Fondazione Telethon achieves milestone with Waskyra approval for Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome

Fondazione Telethon announces the positive opinion issued by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommending marketing authorization in the European Union for Waskyra, an ex vivo gene therapy for Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS), a rare and life-threatening primary immunodeficiency.

14 Nov 2025