Česky
Chemotherapy is one of the main ways in which cancer is treated, along with surgery and radiotherapy. Unlike other methods, chemotherapy affects the whole body, so it is a systemic treatment, unlike other methods whose effect is mainly local. Very often, a combination of all or at least two treatment methods is used, as their effect is complementary or mutually reinforcing. Therefore, we talk about the fact that modern anti-cancer treatment is very often complex, based on a combination of different treatment modalities.
Chemotherapy uses drugs that can be divided into several groups based on factors such as their chemical structure, mechanism of action, and by their relationship to other drugs. Some drugs act in more than one way, and may fall into more than one group. Nowadays, in addition to conventional chemotherapy based on the administration of cytostatics, so-called targeted or biological therapy is increasingly used.
Knowing how a drug works is important in predicting the side effects of treatment. This helps the doctor decide which drugs are likely to be most appropriate for a particular patient. If more than one medication will be used, this information also helps direct exactly when each medication should be taken (in what order) and how often it should be used.
Chemotherapy using cytostatics cannot tell the difference between the proliferation of normal tissue cells (such as those replacing worn-out normal cells) and cancer cells. This means that normal cells are damaged along with the cancer cells, and this causes side effects. Whenever chemotherapy with cytostatics is given, doctors try to find a balance between destroying cancer cells (in order to cure or prevent the disease) and sparing normal cells (in order to reduce unwanted side effects).
Recently, we have been using modern targeted treatments that take advantage of new knowledge about malignancy. This treatment is only administered at Comprehensive Cancer Centres. This treatment usually has different, less serious side effects than treatment with cytostatics. However, it cannot be said to replace cytostatic treatment completely. In most cases, a combination of cytostatic and targeted treatment is used. Thus, the advantages of both methods of systemic anticancer therapy are exploited.
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