ICE chemotherapy treatment is used for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These types of cancer patients need short stay in hospital for ICE treatment. Before starting the treatment blood test is necessary. If your tests are normal then you are fine for the intake of chemotherapy drugs. ICE treatment is mostly given through a thin plastic tube. This tube is inserted into a vein near the collarbone and the skin or through a vein in your arm. Before chemotherapy drugs, some anti sickness drugs are given to patient.

When you are being treated with ICE treatment, the rituximab is given into your cannula as an infusion. Dose of rituximab is given in increasing order because some patients are having an allergic reaction. If patient have reaction then it is necessary to stop the drip and start it again with slower dose. Other drug like Ifosfamide can irritate the bladder lining which cause bleeding and to prevent this we can mix mesna with ifosfamide.

ICE chemotherapy is given in cycles that are repeated for three times. First cycle is started before two days and after giving a drip of rituximab. On the same day other dose will be given, on day three short infusion of etoposide is given and will be repeated for day four. You may also be given a combination of ifosfamide and mesna and you have to finish the cycle on fifth day where the infusions given for third time and after finishing all this, you may go home. You can start your daily injections of drug called G-CSF that help to stimulate the bone marrow to produce white blood cells.

In next schedule of ICE chemotherapy all three chemotherapy drugs that is ifosfamide, etoposide and carboplatin are given. Carboplatin and etoposide are given after an hour while ifosfamide is given after six hours. On day second dose of ifosfamide is given for three times, which lasts for six hours and etoposide last for an hour. After this schedule, there is resting period of 19 days. Every cycle requires 21 days.

In last schedule of ICE chemotherapy an infusion of etoposide is given on first day for an hour. The dose will be repeated on day 2 and day 3. The 24 hour infusion of ifosfamide with mesna will finish and you will get 12 hours mesna on its own. Then there is resting period with no chemotherapy for 25 days. This cycle requires 21 days to complete. After this schedule you may take rest for a period of one week and after that next cycle with the same drugs will be started. Whole course includes 2 to 4 cycles of treatment for 2 to 4 months.

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Technorati Tag: Chemotherapy

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The treatment of cancer reached a new high on the arrival of chemotherapy. This treatment is meant for killing the cancer cells with the help of the anti cancer drugs by subjecting them in our body. There are several types of chemotherapy performed for the removal of cancer cells from our body. One of the methods is the CHOP chemotherapy method.

This treatment is purposely used for a type of cancer in a lymphatic system, known as the Non-Hodgkin lymphoma otherwise called as CHOP. The name CHOP has been named after the drugs used in this type of chemotherapy.

C stands for Cyclophosphamide.
H stands for Hydrodaunorubicin, chemical name of Doxorubicin
O stands for Oncovin
P stands for Prednisolone.

This treatment is given on the day time usually. Before the treatment commences, a blood test has to be taken on the same day. Based on the report of the blood test, the chemotherapy is performed. During the treatment, a flexible tube called cannula is inserted into the vein of the patient through the arms or through the collarbone as well. It will be painful, but for sometime. After the initial set up, the drugs are injected in combinations with help of a syringe.

Normally the drugs inserted into the vein will be in the following order;

Doxorubicin followed by, Oncovin and finally Cyclophosphamide. On the same day the tablets of Prednisolone are given. The patients have to take only the Prednisolone tablets for next 3 weeks and then have to undergo the same type treatment mentioned above, after the completion of tablets. Normally the treatment goes on for 3 to 4 months.

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Technorati Tag: Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a method used in curing cancers. In this method, the drugs are used to eliminate the cancer cells. There are different types of cancer drugs available. They are alkylating agents, anti-metabolits, anthracyclines, antitumor antibiotics, monoclonal antibodies, platinums, or plant alkaloids. Taxol is a drug used as the chemotherapy agent. It belongs to the plant alkaloid type.

Taxol anti cancer drug is purposely used for the treatment of solid tumors present in ovarian cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer and prostate cancer and melanoma.

Taxol drug is injected into the vein most of the times. It causes inflammation through the vein which it passed through. If the drug inserted into the vein escapes, then there is a possibility of the tissues getting damaged. Only trained and experienced practitioners are permitted to perform the Taxol chemotherapy. If the patient experiences any sort of pain or notice any swelling then he has to inform the medical practitioner as soon as possible.

One of the common reaction people acquire while undergoing taxol chemotherapy is the severe allergic conditions. Supportive medications will be provided by the doctors to avert the allergy side effects. Taxol is given in various schedules and times. It can’t be taken in form of a pill. The amount of taxol drug given to the patient depends on the health conditions, age, weight and the type of cancer.

The taxol side effects are reversible. In sense, the side effects will be on the body at the time of treatment and soon after the treatment is over, they vanish. Some of the side effects patients experience while undergoing taxol treatment are; Low blood count, Hair loss, Diarrhea, mouth ulcers and vomiting.

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Technorati Tag: Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy treatment is used to treat cancer and chemotherapy drug prevents growth of cancer cells. These drugs are also used to treat non-cancerous conditions with lower doses. This treatment is generally used after surgery which helps to avoid reappearance of cancer.

Though it is true that chemotherapy is superior treatment, it also produces some side effects like nausea, hair loss, omitting, weight loss, mouth sores, menopause etc. These side effects are temporary but sometimes may change to permanent. Side effects can be cured by using other medicines along with chemotherapy drugs and these may end as the treatment ends.

Live, grow and die in predictable way is the normal process of cell growth. When cell divides and start forming more new cells without stopping the process, cancer occurs. Chemotherapy protocols involve the cells, which destroy the cancerous cells by avoiding them from multiplying and thus it can control the cancer growth.

Chemotherapy may affect the healthy cells, which cause to lower count in blood cells. Chemotherapy protocols struggle to maximize the removal of cancer cells and minimize the negative effects on the normal and healthy cells.

Now days many developments are done for providing the chemotherapy protocols in a successful way. These developed chemotherapy protocols helps to identify exact type of cancer, the patient is suffering from. Still it is needed to work for getting better chemotherapy treatment.

The pediatric oncology group (POG) is national oncology group, which develop specific protocols. Protocols are very useful to select appropriate drugs, routes, doses and also help to choose the order of chemotherapy medications. Protocols provide information about estimation and other clinical involvements.

All this information is useful while going through the chemotherapy administration. The protocols can be used with reference to clinical personal caring for patient. The standardized approach of protocols are helpful to remove many errors that may be dangerous with chemotherapy.

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Technorati Tag: Chemotherapy

It’s been estimated by some experts that by the year 2018, cancer will be the number one killer of us humans in North America. I can almost see the confused look on your face. If so much money is being poured into cancer research and so much progress being made, how can this be? Well, I imagine there’s much more money being made than progress when it comes to conventional cancer treatment. It’s obvious that some form of chemotherapy is the first choice of most doctors when it comes to treating your cancer. But is chemotherapy really safe?

Basically, when you have cancer and are prescribed chemotherapy, the drugs enter your bloodstream and destroy every rapidly dividing cell they can find. This means cancer cells. This means hair follicles. This means digestive tract cells, reproductive cells, and even bone marrow. This is why chemo patients become so violently ill and lose their hair during treatment. So, if your chemotherapy regimen kills your cancer before it kills you, then I guess it was a success. The cancer industry will shout about newer, gentler forms of chemo, but in order to be successful they all have to search and destroy.

According to a study published by Clinical Oncology in 2004, the average 5 year survival success rate of chemotherapy was just over 2% for all cancers. Pretty great odds, don’t you think?

Add to that the fact that many polls and questionnaires suggest that as many as 75% of doctors would refuse the very same chemotherapy treatments they’re prescribing for you! Can you believe that?

We live in a society where we’re able to make educated choices about these types of things. When it comes to chemotherapy, you should educate yourself before making any decisions. Chemotherapy is very questionable in its effectiveness and certainly unsafe. In the end, I just can’t see how something so utterly destructive can ultimately heal your body. There are many, many other options out there. You just have to take a look around.

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Technorati Tag: Chemotherapy

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