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.
Bone Marrow Transplant A bone marrow transplant is a treatment in which a patient's diseased bone marrow is replaced with healthy bone marrow. A bone marrow transplant using marrow from a relative or person not related to the patient is called an allogeneic bone marrow transplant. The healthy marrow from the donor is then given to the patient through a needle in the vein, and the new marrow replaces the original marrow that was destroyed. The treated marrow taken from the patient is then frozen and saved Next, high-dose chemotherapy is given to the patient with or without radiation therapy to destroy all of the remaining marrow. The frozen, treated marrow is then thawed and given back to the patient through a needle in a vein to replace the marrow that was destroyed.