Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs that kill cancer cells or stop them from dividing. Because these drugs act on all fast-dividing cells, they also damage some healthy tissues — such as the lining of the mouth and gut, bone marrow, or hair follicles — which explains common side effects like fatigue, nausea and hair loss. Depending on the goal, chemotherapy is given to cure cancer, lower the risk of recurrence, slow tumour growth or ease symptoms, either on its own or combined with surgery, radiotherapy and other treatments. The drugs can be administered in many ways — most often into a vein or by mouth — and treatment usually follows cycles, with rest periods that give the body time to recover.
Conventional chemotherapy (cytotoxic drugs)
Conventional chemotherapy relies on cytotoxic drugs that damage the machinery of cell division, so it hits cells that multiply quickly — a hallmark of many cancers. The main classes are alkylating agents (with the closel…
Neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is given before the main treatment — usually surgery or radiotherapy — to shrink the tumour and make that treatment feasible or less extensive. Adjuvant chemotherapy is given afterwards, to destr…
Intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC)
HIPEC (hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy) delivers heated chemotherapy directly into the abdominal cavity, usually right after surgery that removes all visible tumour deposits from the peritoneum. It is used in s…
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADC)
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) link a highly potent cytotoxic drug to a monoclonal antibody that recognizes a specific protein on cancer cells, so the chemotherapy is delivered mainly where the antibody binds. They sit …