There are many types of chemotherapy drugs and each interferes with cell growth at a different step. These drugs can also affect healthy cells, but healthy cells can repair and return to normal. Chemotherapy is combined with surgery or radiation therapy when it has been shown to be a more powerful approach to treating cancer. Neo-adjuvant therapy is chemotherapy that is given to shrink a tumor before surgery or radiation therapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy is done after surgery or radiation therapy to destroy cells that may be circulating in the body.
Chemotherapy drugs travel throughout the body in the blood stream.
The most common way to get chemotherapy is through an injection into a vein. When chemotherapy is given this way, a thin needle is placed in the vein on the hand or the lower arm. The needle will be removed after the treatment is over. Patients who have veins that are hard to find or need many IV treatments may get a central line . It is through the catheter that treatments are given and blood samples are taken.