Cells that divide rapidly include both the targeted cancer cells and healthy cells in the blood, digestive tract, and hair follicles. Depending on which anticancer drugs a patient receives, he or she may experience symptoms when healthy cells are damaged along with the cancer cells. If healthy blood cells are destroyed by chemotherapy, the patient may be more susceptible to infections, bruising or bleeding, and fatigue. When cells in the hair roots or digestive tract are affected by anticancer drugs, the patient may have hair loss, nausea, vomiting, or mouth sores. Not all chemotherapy patients develop all of these side effects, and the symptoms usually go away during the recovery period or after the treatments are done.
Doctors can prescribe medicines and other treatments to control most of the symptoms.
One new type of radiation therapy is called radiosurgery. In radiosurgery, radiation is directly focused on the tumor and involves as little normal tissue as possible. Radiosurgery is usually used to treat tumors that involve the brain. Radiation therapy may also be used to prevent the cancer from growing in the brain. Because PCI may affect brain function, the doctor will help the patient decide whether to have this kind of radiation therapy.