What is preventative chemotherapy & how does it work?

Yesterday The Princess of Wales revealed she was being treated for Cancer and was receiving ‘Preventative chemotherapy treatment’. So what do we know about this type of treatment?

Preventative chemotherapy, also known as adjuvant chemotherapy, is a treatment used to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence after primary treatments such as surgery or radiotherapy. Let me explain how it works:

1. Purpose and Timing:
   • After a cancer diagnosis, several treatment pathways are considered.
   • Curative chemotherapy is used alone without other interventions.
   • Adjuvant chemotherapy (preventative chemotherapy) aims to prevent cancer from coming back after initial treatment.
   • Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is administered before another intervention (like surgery or radiotherapy) to improve the success rate of subsequent treatments.
   • Patients with potentially curable cancers receive chemotherapy either before surgery (to enhance its effectiveness) or after surgery (to prevent cancer recurrence).
   • This approach is applicable to various cancer types, including colorectal and bladder cancers.
2. How It Works:
   • Chemotherapy is administered intravenously (like an infusion).
   • It targets cancer cells that might develop and helps improve outcomes.
   • By killing some cancer cells, chemotherapy reduces the tumor mass, making surgery more effective.
   • Sometimes, cancer cells escape from the primary tumor and circulate in the bloodstream. These microscopic cells are challenging to detect.
   • Chemotherapy circulates throughout the body, capturing any escaped cancer cells and minimizing the risk of recurrence after surgery.
   • Different types of chemotherapy work in various ways, but a common approach interferes with the cancer cells’ DNA, preventing their growth.
3. Side Effects:
   • General side effects of chemotherapy include fatigue, nausea, vomiting, sepsis, anemia, constipation, and diarrhea.
   • Recovery time typically spans a couple of weeks.
   • Tolerance to chemotherapy depends on the patient’s baseline health status.

Remember, preventative chemotherapy plays a crucial role in reducing the chances of cancer returning and spreading¹

I’m sure all of my readers will join me in wishing her a good recovery.