Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a common cancer treatment that uses medicine to kill cancer cells.

What chemotherapy is for

Chemotherapy is used to treat many types of cancer.

Chemotherapy may be recommended for you depending on the type of cancer you have, how far it’s spread and your general health.

You may have chemotherapy to:

  • cure the cancer if possible
  • reduce the chances of cancer coming back after treatment
  • shrink cancer or stop it spreading
  • relieve symptoms caused by cancer

You may have chemotherapy on its own or with other treatments such as radiotherapy (where radiation is used to kill cancer cells) or surgery.

Information:

Chemotherapy is also sometimes used to treat conditions caused by your own immune system attacking your body (autoimmune conditions).

How chemotherapy is given

There are lots of chemotherapy medicines and different ways you can have them.

The type of chemotherapy you have depends on the type of cancer you have and what medicines will work best for you.

You usually have treatment in hospital or a clinic, but you can have some types of chemotherapy at home.

You usually have chemotherapy in "cycles" over several months. This means you have treatment and then have a break of a few days or weeks to let your body recover before the next treatment.

 

 

 

Common ways of having chemotherapy

How it's given

What happens

Tube into a vein

A thin tube is inserted into a vein (usually in your arm) and attached to a bag of medicine (a drip) or a pump. Can take from 30 minutes to a few days.

Injection

You have an injection into a vein, muscle or under your skin. Usually only takes a few minutes.

Wearable pump

A needle is inserted into a vein, which is attached to a tube and a small pump you can take home. The pump slowly gives you medicine over a few days.

Tablets or capsules

You're given medicine to take at home and have regular appointments to check how things are going and get more medicine.