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Chemotherapy means treatment with anti-cancer drugs. These are given to cure some types of cancer, to reduce the possibility of the cancer to come back in the future, to control cancer cells for some time or to relieve symptoms caused by the cancer. There are over
50 different drugs, which may be given on their own or in several combinations. Chemotherapy enters the bloodstream and reaches all body tissues. It damages cancer cells so they cannot divide and grow, however, it also affects normal cells causing some side effects.

Cancer is a genetic disease, it is caused by changes to genes that control the way human cells function, especially how they grow and divide. Abnormal and excessive growth of tissue cells is called a tumor and can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors are usually slow growing, they only cause problems because of their size, they do not spread and once treated they don’t usually cause any further problems. Cancers or malignant tumors also start within a limited area but they can spread to nearby organs or tissues. Cancer cells may be carried in the lymphatic system and in the bloodstream to distant sites in the body, forming new tumors called metastases or “secondaries”.  Cancer is a word used to describe many different diseases which have different causes and which are treated in different ways. All cancers can be treated although not all can be cured. Although many illnesses may have a worse prognosis than most cases of cancer, cancer is the subject of widespread fear and taboos.