How does chemotherapy work?
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Chemotherapy drugs attack your cells' ability to reproduce, thereby killing cancer cells, which reproduce quickly and form into clumps called tumors. Side effects of chemotherapy, such as hair and bone marrow loss, are results of this attack on cell reproduction. High-dose chemotherapy treatment programs may require replacement of bone marrow through a stem-cell transplant. Bone marrow stem cells are responsible for creating blood cells.
Chemotherapy drugs attack your cells' ability to reproduce, thereby killing cancer cells, which reproduce quickly and form into clumps called tumors. Side effects of chemotherapy, such as hair and bone marrow loss, are results of this attack on cell... More -
Cheryl Taylor of Honor Society of Nursing (STTI) answered:In general, chemotherapy kills rapidly dividing cells. Many of the different types of chemotherapy attack cells as a specific phase of the cell cycle (the way that cells reproduce). Killing off rapidly dividing cells is why many chemotherapy drugs have the side effects, such as: hair loss, mouth sores, and/or diarrhea. Hair cells divide quickly and the cells that line the mouth and the gut do as well.
In general, chemotherapy kills rapidly dividing cells. Many of the different types of chemotherapy attack cells as a specific phase of the cell cycle (the way that cells reproduce). Killing off rapidly dividing cells is why many chemotherapy drugs... More
