If there is thought to be a high risk of cancer spreading beyond your breast or its surrounding lymph glands following surgery, treatment with anti-cancer drugs may be advised.
Whereas radiotherapy attacks cancer cells in the specific area at which the X-ray beam is directed, the drugs used in chemotherapy can kill cancer cells throughout the body.
When is chemotherapy necessary?
Chemotherapy increases the chance of cure for pre-menopausal women whose cancer has spread to their auxiliary lymph glands. Younger women with very rapidly growing breast cancers may also benefit from this type of treatment, even when there has been no spread to the lymph glands.
The role of chemotherapy is less clear for post-menopausal women. Clinical trials are currently underway to evaluate its effect in these cases.
Receiving the treatment
Each woman is assessed individually, and the most appropriate combination of drugs as well as the timing and duration of treatment are decided upon. The most common combination of drugs used as a preventative or adjuvant treatment is cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil – known as CMF. Other commonly used drugs are adriamycin and vincristine.
You may be given the drugs by injection, or as a combination of injections and tablets. The injections take about 5 to 10 minutes to administer, and adjuvant chemotherapy is usually given in an outpatients’ clinic over a period of 4 to 6 months. The drugs are administered through a needle inserted into a vein in the back of your hand or forearm.
Before you receive any drugs, a sample of your blood will be taken for a blood count.
Side-effects
Different drugs have different side-effects, and the doctor and chemotherapy nurse will explain these to you before your treatment begins. The most common side-effects are nausea, tiredness, and effects on the blood count. Some drugs cause extensive hair loss, whereas others cause little or none.
All the side-effects will stop as soon as the chemotherapy comes to an end. Any hair lost will grow back as thick as it was before.
Do discuss any side-effects you experience with the doctor or nurse, as it may be possible for you to be given something to improve the symptoms.
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