Course of chemotherapy

The course of chemotherapy is a tool for the elimination of many varieties of malignant neoplasms. Its essence boils down to the use, in the conduct of the therapeutic process, of medical chemicals that ways to significantly inhibit the growth of defective cells, or to damage their structure.

On the basis of many years of research, physicians developed their doses of cytostatic drugs for each type of tumor and a graph from the application. The drugs taken are strictly dosage and are calculated depending on the patient's body weight. The protocol of chemotherapy course is prepared individually, for each patient separately.

In modern oncology, it has not yet been possible to obtain a drug that would meet the two main categories in relation to the human body and cancer cells: a low level of toxicity for the body and an effective effect on all types of tumor cells.

[1], [2], [3],

What is the course of chemotherapy?

Quite often, patients and their relatives have a natural question: "How is the course of chemotherapy?".

Based on the characteristics of the patient's illness, the course of chemotherapy takes place in a hospital or at home under close supervision of an experienced oncologist who has sufficient experience of such treatment.

If the attending physician allows therapy at home, then the first session is best still in a hospital, under the supervision of a doctor who, if necessary, corrects further treatment. With therapy at home, a periodic visit to the doctor is mandatory.

Some ways to conduct a course of chemotherapy:

• Using a sufficiently thin needle for injection, the drug is injected into the vein of the hand (peripheral vein).
• The catheter, which is a small tube in diameter, is inserted into the subclavian or central vein. For the duration of the course, they do not remove it and a medicine is injected through it. Often the course takes several days. To control the volume of the drug administered, a special pump is used.
• If possible, then "connect" to the artery, which passes directly through the tumor.
• Taking drugs in the form of tablets is done orally.
• Intramuscular injection directly to the location of the tumor or subcutaneously.
• Antineoplastic medications, in the form of ointments or solutions, are applied directly to the skin at the site of tumor development.
• Medicines, if necessary, can enter the abdominal or pleural cavity, the spinal fluid or the bladder.

Observations show that during the introduction of anti-cancer drugs the patient feels rather well. Side effects appear immediately after the completion of the procedure, after a few hours or days.

Duration of chemotherapy course

Therapy of each patient largely depends on the classification of the cancer tumor; the goal pursued by the doctor; injected drugs and the patient's reaction to them. The protocol of treatment and the duration of the course of chemotherapy is determined individually by each patient by his doctor. The schedule of therapy can be the administration of an anticancer drug every day, or it is carried to a weekly intake, or the patient is assigned to receive chemical products on a monthly basis. The dosage is accurately reconciled and recounted depending on the body weight of the victim.

Chemotherapy patients receive cycles (this is the time during which the patient receives anticancer drugs). The course of treatment, most often, is from one to five days. Then there is a break, which can last from one to four weeks (depending on the treatment protocol). The patient is given the opportunity to recover a little. After that, he undergoes another cycle, which, dosed, continues to destroy or kill tumor cells. Most often, the number of cycles varies from four to eight (if necessary), and the total treatment time, in general, reaches half a year.

There are cases when the attending physician ascribes to the patient a second course of chemotherapy to prevent relapses, in this case the treatment can last for a year and a half.

A very important element in the therapy is the strict adherence to dosages, the timing of the cycles, the maintenance of intervals between courses, even if it seems that there is no longer any strength. Otherwise, all efforts will not lead to the expected result. Only in exceptional cases, on the basis of clinical tests, a doctor can temporarily stop the use of cancer drugs. If the failure in the schedule of the reception occurred due to the patient's fault (forgot, or for some reason could not take the necessary medicine), it is necessary to inform your doctor about it. Only he can make the right decision.

With a long course of taking oncopies, partial or complete addiction of the cells may occur, so the oncologist tests the sensitivity to this medication before taking the drug and as soon as it is treated.

[4], [5], [6]

Duration of the course of chemotherapy

Medicine and pharmacology do not stand still, new innovative technologies and treatment schemes are constantly being developed, and more modern medicines are also appearing. In the process of treatment, oncologists prescribe oncopic drugs or their most effective combinations. And depending on the diagnosis of the patient and the stage of its progression, the duration of the course of chemotherapy and the schedules of its passage are strictly regulated by international methods.

Cytostatic preparations, and complexes of them, are quantitatively compiled on the principle of minimal necessity to obtain the most significant effect on cancer cells with the least damage to human health.

The length of the cycle and the number of courses are chosen depending on the nature of the tumor to a particular species, from the clinic of the ongoing disease, from the drugs used to treat it, and from the patient's response to ongoing treatment (the doctor observes whether there are side-effects).

The therapeutic complex of measures can last on average from six months to two years. In this case, the attending physician does not release the patient to their field of vision, regularly undergoing the necessary studies (radiography, blood tests, MRI, ultrasound and others).

[7], [8], [9],

Number of chemotherapy courses

In the terminology of medical oncologists there is such a thing as dose intensity. This name determines the concept of the frequency and amount of medication administered to a patient, for a certain period of time. The eighties of the twentieth century were held under the auspices of increasing the dose intensity. The patient began to receive more medications, while the attending physician tried not to allow significant toxicity. But the patient and his family should understand that with a decrease in dose intake, with some types of cancer cells, the chances of recovery also fall. In such patients, even with a positive result of treatment, relapses often occur.

Moreover, studies carried out by German scientists have shown that with the intensity of dosage and the reduction of intercourse time, the results of treatment are more impressive - the number of cured patients is much higher.

The number of chemotherapy courses depends largely on the patient's tolerability of medications and the stage of the disease. Oncologist in each case should take into account a lot of different factors. One of the most important is the area of localization of the disease, its type, the number of metastases and their prevalence. An important factor is the immediate condition of the patient. If the drugs are well tolerated, the tandem of the patient and the doctor goes through all the cycles envisaged by the scheme from the course of chemotherapy, but if the doctor notices the patient obvious signs of toxicity (eg, a sharp fall in hemoglobin, leukocytes in the blood, exacerbation of systemic diseases, etc.), the number of cycles is reduced.

In each specific case, the admission schedule and the number of cycles are strictly individual, but there are also generally accepted schedules for the administration of drugs on which the treatment of many patients is based.

Most often, the treatment is carried out according to the Mayo scheme. The patient takes fluorouracil with leucovorin in a dosage of 425 mg intravenously for one to five days with a four-week break. But the number of courses of chemotherapy is determined by the attending physician based on the stage of the disease. More often than six courses - about six months.

Or the Roswell Park scheme. The introduction of cancer drugs once a week, every six weeks with a curative course of eight months.

Long-term studies give such figures of five-year survival of patients (with a specific type of lung cancer and the same stage of its development): three courses of chemotherapy - 5%, five cycles 25%, if the patient has completed seven courses - 80%. Conclusion: with a smaller number of completed cycles, the hope for survival tends to zero.

Is it possible to interrupt the course of chemotherapy?

Faced with this problem, patients almost always ask their physician the natural question, can chemotherapy be interrupted? The answer here can be unambiguous. The interruption of the course of treatment, especially in its late stages, is fraught with serious serious recoils to the primary form of the disease, up to lethal outcomes. Therefore, it is unacceptable to stop taking prescribed anti-cancer drugs on your own. It is necessary and strictly adhere to the scheme of drug administration. Any violation of the regime (due to forgetfulness, or due to some objective circumstances) should be immediately known by the attending physician. Only he is able to advise something.

Interruption of the course of chemotherapy is possible only on the basis of an informed decision of the oncologist. This decision, he can take on the basis of clinical indications and visual observation of the patient. The reasons for this interruption may be:

• Exacerbation of chronic diseases.
• A sharp drop in the number of leukocytes in the blood.
• Reduction to critical hemoglobin.
• And others.

Break between chemotherapy courses

Most of the drugs taken during chemotherapy work to destroy rapidly dividing cancer cells. But the process of division for both oncological and normal cells proceeds in the same way. Therefore, as unfortunate it sounds, the drugs taken undergo the same effects on both cells of the human body, causing side effects. That is, healthy cells are also damaged.

In order for the patient's body to rest for a while, recover slightly and with new strength "to overcome the fight against the disease," oncologists necessarily introduce breaks between chemotherapy courses. This rest can last about one to two weeks, in exceptional cases - up to four weeks. But based on the monitoring conducted by German oncologists, the density of chemotherapy courses should be as high as possible, and the rest time is as abrupt as possible, so that during this time the cancer tumor could not again increase.

[10]

1 course of chemotherapy

For 1 course of chemotherapy, not all are destroyed, but only a certain percentage of cancer cells. Therefore, oncologists almost never stop on one treatment cycle. Based on the overall clinical picture, the oncologist doctor can prescribe from two to twelve cycles of chemotherapy.

In the aggregate, the time for receiving patients with anti-cancer drugs and rest time is indicated by the course of chemotherapy. Within the course of 1 course of chemotherapy, the dosage of a drug or preparations that are administered intravenously or in the form of tablets and suspensions orally is prescribed according to the scheme. Their intensity of administration; quantitative scope of rest; visiting a doctor; delivery, provided by the schedule of this cycle, analyzes; clinical research - all this is written in the framework of one cycle, almost in seconds.

The number of cycles is prescribed by the attending physician, based on such factors: the stage of cancer; variant of lymphoma; the name of the drugs that are administered to the patient; the goal that the doctor wants to achieve:

• Either this is a preoperative stopping chemistry to slow or completely stop the division of malignant cells, which is performed before the operation to remove the tumor.
• Or this is an "independent" course of treatment.
• Or by a course of chemotherapy, which is carried out after the operation, to destroy the remaining cancer cells and prevent the formation of new tumor cells.
• Quite often it depends on the severity of side effects and their nature.

Only through monitoring and clinical studies, which adds experience, the doctor is able to more effectively select a patient or a complex of drugs, as well as to introduce intensity and quantity of cycles into the treatment regimen, with minimal toxicity of the organism and maximum ability to kill cancer cells.

[11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17],

Course of chemotherapy for lung cancer

Cancer patients with lung lesions, to date, are leading in quantitative manifestation. Moreover, this disease covers all countries of the globe, and the percentage of appeals of patients with such a diagnosis grows every day. Statistics sound quite frightening figures: for every hundred of those who are diagnosed with lung cancer, 72 people do not live and a year after diagnosis. The majority of cases are elderly people (approximately 70% of patients are over 65 years old).

Treatment of this disease is complex and one of the methods of struggle is chemotherapy, which especially gives a high positive result in the case of a small-cell lung tumor.

Recognize the disease at its early stage is quite difficult, because at first it is almost asymptomatic, and when the pain starts to manifest, it is often too late. But this does not mean that you need to drop your hands and do nothing. Despite this, modern oncological centers have at their disposal diagnostic methods that make it possible to detect this terrible disease at an embryonic level, giving the patient a chance to live.

Differentiation of cancer cells and their classification occurs according to some criteria:

• Size of the cell of the tumor.
• Volume of the tumor itself.
• The presence of metastases and the depth of their penetration into other conjugated organs.

The attribution of a particular disease to an existing class is important, since for a finely dispersed and large-dispersed tumor, the various stages of its growth, the methods of treatment are somewhat different. In addition, differentiation of the disease makes it possible to predict the further course of the disease, the effectiveness of the specific therapy and the overall life expectancy of the patient.

The course of chemotherapy for lung cancer is aimed at damage to tumor tumors. In some cases, it is used as an individual treatment method, but more often it is part of a common treatment complex. Especially good enough for chemical drugs is small-cell cancer.

The patient almost always receives cytostatics inward through a dropper. Each patient receives a dosage and a regimen of admission from his attending physician individually. After one chemotherapy course, the patient receives two to three weeks of rest, in order to at least partially restore strength and prepare his body for a new dose of drugs. The patient receives as many treatment cycles as provided for in the protocol.

The list of cytotoxics used for lung cancer is quite wide. Here are some of them:

[18], [19], [20], [21], [22]

Carboplatin (Paraplatin)

This drug is administered intravenously for 15 minutes to one hour.

The solution is prepared immediately before the dropper, diluting one bottle of the drug with 0.9% sodium chloride solution or 5% glucose solution. The concentration of the resulting mixture should not exceed 0.5 mg / ml carboplatin. The total dose is calculated individually in an amount of 400 mg per one m ^{2 of} the body surface of the patient. The rest time between meals is four weeks. A lower dosage is prescribed when the drug is administered in combination with other drugs.

Preventive measures for the use of the drug in the course of chemotherapy:

• This drug is used only under the close supervision of the attending oncologist.
• Therapy can begin only with full confidence in the correctness of the diagnosis.
• When using a medication, it is necessary to work only with gloves. If the medicine has got on the skin, it should be washed off as soon as possible with soap and water, and rinse thoroughly with water.
• With significant doses of the drug may oppression of the bone marrow, the emergence of severe bleeding and the development of an infectious disease.
• The appearance of vomiting can be stopped with the use of antiemetics.
• There is a possibility of allergic reactions. In this case, you need to take antihistamines.
• Contact carboplatinum with aluminum leads to a decrease in drug activity. Therefore, when you administer the drug, you can not use needles, which include this chemical element.

There is no data on the use of the drug in the treatment of children.

[23]

Cisplatin (Platinol)

The drug is administered with a dropper, intravenously. The dosage is set by the doctor: - 30 mg per m ² once a week;

• - 60 - 150 mg per m ² of the patient's body area every three to five weeks;
• - 20 mg / m2 daily for 5 days. Repeatedly every four weeks;
• - 50 mg / m2 on the first and the eighth days every four weeks.

In a complex with irradiation, the drug is injected intravenously every day at a dose of up to 100 mg.

If the doctor has prescribed the administration of the drug intraperitoneally and intrapleuscularly - the dose is set from 40 to 100 mg.

When you enter the drug directly into the cavity, the drug is not strongly diluted.

Contraindications include hypersensitivity to the components of the drug, as well as impaired renal and hearing function.

[24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29]

Docetaxel

The drug is injected slowly, once, intravenously, for 1 hour. Dosage of 75-100 mg per / m ², the procedure is repeated every three weeks.

When taking the drug, you must follow all the precautions that are specified when working with other antitumor drugs.

Almost all the chemotherapy drugs have many side effects, therefore, in order to remove some of them, the attending physician ascribes to his patient additional medications that partially or completely stop them. The most common side effects are:

• Hair loss.
• Peripheral neuropathy.
• Nausea, resulting in vomiting.
• The appearance of ulcerative formations in the mouth.
• Disturbances in the digestive tract.
• Decreased vitality: rapid fatigue, loss of appetite, depression.
• Change in taste preferences.
• Reducing the number of red bodies in the blood - anemia.
• Reduction of the number of white bodies in the blood - neutropenia.
• Decreased platelet count.
• Suppression of immunity.
• Changes in the structure and color of nails, skin color.

The recovery process after the treatment cycle, in most cases, stretches for about six months.

[30], [31]

Course of chemotherapy for lymphoma

Lymphoma - tumor cells that penetrated the human lymphatic system, as well as those near the lymph nodes. One of the first symptoms of the defeat of cancerous tumors in lymphoma is the swelling of various groups of lymph nodes (inflammation can seize as a separate group of nodes - inguinal, axillary, cervical localizations - and all of them in a complex way). The use of a course of chemotherapy with lymphoma gives quite good results and an optimistic forecast. Physicians distinguish lymphoma of the sclerotically-nodular or combined form. The stages of the disease, as in the case of cancers of other organs, are distinguished: mild, moderate and severe. A more neglected form, often, leads to death.

Scheme of the course of chemotherapy is described based on the severity of the disease, as well as depending on the composition of the lymphatic fluid. Despite the different localization of the disease, the methods of diagnosis and schedules of chemotherapy are fairly similar. That's what distinguishes them, so it's drugs received by the patient and their combinations. Lymphomas do not operate, so conducting a course of chemotherapy is one of the main ways to healing. Traditionally, in the treatment of lymph cancer, the patient undergoes three cycles, with more severe forms, the number of courses increases.

To confirm the diagnosis, in addition to computed tomography, MRI, positron emission tomography (PET) and other techniques are used, since the unifying name of "lymphoma" includes a sufficiently large number of various diseases. But, nevertheless, the schemes for taking antitumor drugs are similar, using the same set of medicines. At an early stage of the disease, several combined chemotherapy regimens approved in protocol are used in combination with laser therapy.

The list of such medicines is wide enough. Here are some of them.

[32], [33], [34]

Adriamycin

The medicine enters the vein - 60-75 mg / m ², once in three to four weeks. Either for three days to 20-30 mg / m ² after three to four weeks. Or in the first, the eighth and the 15th days, once, 30 mg / m ². Intervals between cycles are provided in 3-4 weeks.

If the medication entry is attributed to the inside of the bladder, the dropper is placed once with an interval from one week to a month.

Complex therapy provides a dropper every 3 to 4 weeks at a dosage of 25-50 mg / m ², but the total course dose should not exceed 500-550 mg / m ².

This drug is contraindicated in people hypersensitive to hydroxybenzoates, suffering from anemia, impaired liver and kidney function, acute hepatitis, ulcerative manifestations in the stomach and duodenum and others (a complete list of contraindications can be found in the instructions for this medicine).

[35]

Bleomycin

An antitumor agent is ascribed to both the muscle and the vein.

• when injections into a vein: the vial of the drug is diluted with a solution (20 ml) of sodium chloride. The medication is admitted at a sufficiently dosed rate.
• when pricked into the muscle, the drug is dissolved in an isotonic solution of sodium chloride (5-10 ml). To dull the pain, 1-2 ml of 1-2% solution of novocaine are pre-injected.

The usual scheme for adults is 15 mg every other day or 30 mg twice a week. The total exchange rate should not be more than 300 mg. With a repeated cycle, both single and the course dose are reduced, the interval between the drug intake is maintained up to one and a half to two months. Patients aged, the dose taken is reduced and is 15 mg twice a week. Kids this drug is administered cautiously. The dose is calculated depending on the weight of the body. When pricking, only freshly prepared solution is used.

Contraindications for this drug are significant: these are violations of kidney and respiratory function, pregnancy, severe cardiovascular disease ...

[36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42],

Vinblastine

This drug comes through a dropper and only intravenously. Dosage is strictly individual and directly depends on the patient's clinic.

For adults: a single starting dosage of 0.1 mg / kg of the patient's weight (3.7 mg / m ² of body surface) is repeated in a week. The next dose is increased by 0.05 mg / kg per week and adjusted to a maximum dose of 0.5 mg / kg (18.5 mg / m ² ) per week . The indicator of stopping the growth of the dose of the drug administered is a decrease in the number of white blood cells to 3000 / mm ³.

The prophylactic dosage is less than the initial dose by 0.05 mg / kg and is taken every 7-14 days until all symptoms are gone.

For babies: the starting amount of the drug is 2.5 mg / m ² once a week, the dose is increased by 1.25 mg / m ² every week until the number of white blood cells is reduced to 3000 / mm ³. The maximum total dose of the week is 7.5 mg / m ².

The maintenance dosage is lower by 1.25 mg / m ², which the child receives 7-14 days. The bottle of the preparation is diluted with 5 ml of the solvent. Subsequently, if necessary, diluted with 0.9% solution of sodium chloride.

This medication should not be taken to patients who are hypersensitive to the active ingredient or any component of the drug, as well as viral or bacterial infections.

The number of courses of chemotherapy is prescribed by the attending physician based on the clinic of the disease and the general condition of the patient.

The course of chemotherapy for stomach cancer

Cancer of the stomach is a cancerous tumor that penetrates into the gastric mucosa. It is able to metastasize and adjacent to the focus layers of organs, more often this penetration occurs in the liver, lymphatic system, esophagus, bone tissue and other organs.

At the initial stage of the origin of the disease, the symptoms of this disease are practically not visible. And only with the progression of the disease there is apathy, appetite disappears, the patient begins to lose weight, there is a taste intolerance of meat food, a blood test shows anemia. Later, some discomfort begins to be felt in the stomach area. If the cancer is located close enough to the esophagus, the patient feels an early saturation of the stomach, its overflow. Internal bleeding, nausea, vomiting is activated, strong painful sensations appear.

The course of chemotherapy for gastric cancer is carried out either intravenously or in the form of tablets. This treatment complex is performed either before surgery to slightly reduce the size of the tumor itself, or after surgery - to remove possibly remaining cancer cells after resection or to prevent relapses.

To defeat tumor cells, oncologists are using cytotoxic drugs. Modern pharmacology offers them a fairly impressive list.

The course of chemotherapy is represented by such drugs:

Cisplatin, which has already been written above.

Fluorocyl

It is often introduced into various treatment protocols. The patient takes it into a vein. To introduce it cease when the leukocytes reach a critical norm. After normalization, the treatment process resumes. This medication is dripped for 100-120 hours continuously at a rate of 1 g / m ² per day. There is another course where the patient's medication gets the first and eighth days with a dosage of 600 mg / m ². Prescribe it and in combination with calcium, then the volumes are 500 mg / m ² daily for three to five days with an interval of four weeks.

Patients who suffer from individual intolerance to the components of this drug, suffering from renal or hepatic insufficiency, an acute form of an infectious disease, tuberculosis, as well as in a state of pregnancy or lactation, are not recommended for taking this medication.

[43], [44], [45]

Epirubicin

The drug is delivered to the patient in a jet stream in a vein. It is necessary to watch, that the preparation did not get into other tissues, as it is capable to provoke their deep defeat, down to a necrosis.

Adults: As a mono drug - intravenously. Dosage is 60-90 mg / m ². Break in the introduction of oncoprotein - 21 days. If a history of bone marrow function is present, the administered dosage is reduced to 60-75 mg / m ².

If the anticancer agent is taken together with other drugs, its dosage is accordingly reduced.

[46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52],

Temperature after chemotherapy course

After any course of chemotherapy, the patient's body is weakened, immunity is severely suppressed, and viral infections often arise against this background, which provoke a rise in the body temperature of the patient. Therefore, the patient's general treatment is carried out in fractional, separate cycles, in between which allow the patient's body to recover and restore the protective forces spent. The fact that the temperature after the course of chemotherapy is growing, tells the treating doctor that the patient's body is infected, and can no longer cope with the disease. It is necessary to include antibiotics in the treatment protocol.

The disease develops rapidly, therefore, in order to prevent complications, it is necessary to proceed immediately to treatment. To determine the causative agent of inflammation, the patient gives a blood test. Having identified the cause - you can treat and investigate.

Unfortunately, the rise in temperature against the background of a general weakening of the body is an inevitable consequence of the course of chemotherapy. During this period, the patient simply needs to narrow the circle of contacts. Take antipyretics can not.

What to do after a course of chemotherapy?

After spending a fairly long time in the hospital walls, patients ask a question to their treating oncologist. What to do after a course of chemotherapy?

The main thing that must be remembered by patients is:

• The patient must necessarily be shown for a follow-up visit to the oncologist. The first appointment will be appointed by the attending physician of the hospital, and the patient will receive a further visit schedule from the doctor in the polyclinic.
• At the slightest manifestation of a symptom, you need to urgently come again to see a doctor:
  • Diarrhea and nausea.
  • Pain that persists for several days.
  • Unreasonable weight loss.
  • The appearance of swelling and bruising (if there was no injury).
  • Dizziness.
• Onkozabolevanie not dangerous. Therefore, do not limit the patient in communication with relatives and friends. Positive emotions, too, are treated.
• If the body came back to normal after a course of chemotherapy, you should not avoid intimacy, it is an integral part of a full life. It is impossible to infect your partner with cancer, but it's completely spoiled.
• After all the chemotherapy courses are over, the rehabilitation process has been completed, the vitality has been restored, there is no reason to refuse professional activity. Former patients may well return to work, especially if it is not associated with heavy physical labor. In the torrential case, you can find a place where labor is easier.
• With the restoration of the body's immune system, vitality, the former patient can gradually come to its usual level of activity. You go out into people, go to work, walk in the park - this will give you an opportunity to digress from the problems, push them to the background.

Recovery after a course of chemotherapy

Cancer patient after general treatment feels bad enough. Reduced the functions of all organs and systems. In recovery after a course of chemotherapy is the need to help the patient as soon as possible to bring your body into a normal working state. To support in desire to return to a full public life.

In most cases, this process takes about six months. In the recovery period, the patient undergoes rehabilitation courses developed by specialists, which will allow to cleanse the body of the consequences of chemotherapy, protect against the penetration of pathogenic flora (antibiotic intake), stimulate the body to activate, will consolidate the result and prevent complications.

The recovery period is represented by several stages or courses:

• Restorative drug therapy, conducted in the hospital.
• Rehabilitation at home.
• Alternative medicine.
• Spa treatment.

The initial course of restorative therapy of the patient is still in the hospital. And since the liver is the first to take chemotherapy, it must be maintained even during the period of the treatment itself. It needs support and during rehabilitation. To improve the functioning of the liver, the patient is prescribed maintenance drugs, often made with natural plant raw materials, for example, "Karsil" - the basis of which is the milk thistle.

• Karsil

These dragees adults take three times during the day, one to four - as prescribed by the doctor, depending on the severity of the disease. Duration of admission is more than three months.

Children older than five years of daily dose of the drug is attributed at the rate of 5 mg per 1 kg of the body weight of the baby. The resulting figure is divided into three steps.

This drug has a number of minor side effects. The main one is dyspepsia, disruption of the normal functioning of the stomach, problematic digestion, passing with pain. Less common are violations of the vestibular apparatus and alopecia (abnormal hair loss), but they usually pass on their own. Contraindication to the use of only one - hypersensitivity to any of the components of the drug.

Good helpers in the purification of the body are adsorption, which as a sponge absorb, bind toxins and remove them. These modern enterosorbents have an extensive adsorbing surface. This makes them highly efficient.

• Enterosgel

This medicine is available as a completely ready-to-use paste. The duration of the course is strictly individual and is assigned by the attending physician leading the patient, but on average from a week to two. Reception is carried out for one and a half - two hours before or after a meal or medicine, three times a day. One-time dosage for adults or adolescents over 14 years is 15 g (respectively, daily -45 g).

Karapuzam from zero to five years attributed a teaspoon (5 g) - single dose or 15 g - daily. Children from five to 14 years, respectively: daily dose - 30 g, single - 10 g.

With severe manifestations of the consequences of chemotherapy, the dosage in the first three days can be doubled, and then return to the recommended dose of admission. There are also side effects of this drug - constipation (if the patient has previously been inclined to their manifestation). The drug is contraindicated for patients who have a history of acute intestinal obstruction, an allergic reaction to the component composition of the drug.

• Polysorb

This sorbent is drunk in the form of an aqueous mixture that is made immediately before use: in one glass of non-hot boiling water or mineral water (without gas) of neutral alkalinity, powder of the drug is administered: for adults - 1.2 g (one tablespoon), for children - 0, 6 g (one teaspoon). The solution is thoroughly mixed. The resulting suspension is taken one hour before taking medication or food. At the same time, the daily dosage of the drug for adults and children, who turned seven, is 12 g (if there is a medical need - the dose can be increased to 24 g per day).

Children between the ages of one to seven years, the daily dosage is determined from the calculation of 150-200 mg per 1 kg of the child's weight and divided into three to four doses. A single dose should not be more than half the daily dosage. In the case when the patient is difficult to take the medicine on his own - he is injected through a probe.

The course of treatment is purely individual and is, on average, 3 to 15 days. Contraindications for this drug a little. These include acute periods of peptic ulcer diseases of the duodenum and stomach, damage to the mucosa of the small and large intestine (erosion, ulcers), intestinal obstruction. Do not give polysorb to children up to a year.

After discharge from the hospital, the patient needs to radically change his past lifestyle and nutrition. To prevent the pathogenic flora from entering the body, it is necessary to look after the oral cavity (mouth cavity, brush your teeth ...). At first, give up solid food or drink it well with liquid so that it is easier, without trauma, passed through the esophagus.

The effect on the body of chemical preparations leads to disturbances in the blood supply system, and the formula of blood itself changes. To raise hemoglobin, the doctor instructs the patient to take red wine in small doses (although alcohol itself after such a complex procedure as chemotherapy is not recommended to drink). In this period, the patient takes and venotonics.

For example, venarus is an angioprotector, which raises the tone of the vessels, prevents the stagnation of venous blood in the vessels, improves its microcirculation. Take twice a day (during lunch and dinner) one - two tablets. Do not recommend this drug to patients who have increased sensitivity to the components of the drug (complete intolerance is rare).

To increase platelets in the blood, the attending physician appoints the patient B vitamins, as well as Sodecor and Derinat, some others.

• Derinath

Injection of this drug is administered intramuscularly (less often subcutaneously). Adults receive a one-time dose of 5 ml. The patient receives a shot every 24 to 72 hours according to the doctor's prescription. The course of administration implies about three to ten injections.

The schedule for entering the drug for children is similar. A single dose varies:

• Caraboys in the age of up to two years - 0.5 ml of the drug.
• from two to ten years - 0.5 ml of medicine, calculated for each year of life.
• over ten years - 5ml of Derinat.

This drug is contraindicated in patients who suffer from an individual intolerance to sodium deoxyribonucleate or diabetes mellitus.

• Sodecor

The daily dosage of the drug is from 15 to 30 ml (diluted 200 ml of water or warm tea) broken into one to three doses. Duration of treatment is from three weeks to a month. Before use, the solution must be shaken well.

Contraindicated drug sodecor with hypersensitivity to its components, hypertension.

Do not neglect during the recovery period and the course of treatment by alternative means.

To overcome such a consequence of chemotherapy as baldness, one can use the experience of our ancestors:

• Rub in the roots of the head burdock oil, which is sold in any pharmacy.
• Well in this case, the infusion of fruits of ashberry and dogrose works. It is necessary to drink three glasses a day.
• Broths for washing the head, made on the basis of burdock root or hop.
• The berry fruit drinks have an excellent effect.
• And others.

To increase the number of leukocytes, hemoglobin, platelets, red blood cells in the blood (normalize its formula) the patient will help:

• Decoctions prepared on the basis of herbs, such as chicory, sweet clover, angelica root.
• Tincture or broths of a golden root.
• Decoction of nettle.
• Tincture of Eleutherococcus.
• Decoction based on yarrow herb.
• And other herbs.

With hematomas in the field of veins, vodka compresses show good efficiency, which are covered with a plantain or a cabbage leaf.

And as the final chord of the rehabilitation period - this is sanatorium treatment, as well as climatotherapy, as an integral part of complex sanatorium treatment.

In connection with the increasing number of cancers, specialized sanatoriums have become an indispensable stage in the rehabilitation period. Special programs are developed, which include:

• Reception of mineral water.
• Application of herbal medicine (herbal treatment).
• Selection of an individual balanced diet.

Physiotherapeutic procedures in the recovery period after chemotherapy:

• Iodine baths.
• Yoga practice.
• Water treatments with sea salt.
• Aromatherapy - treatment with smells.
• Recreational physical training.
• Medical swimming.
• Work with a psychologist. Getting positive emotions, stress removal.
• Climatotherapy: walks in the fresh air (often the sanatoriums are located in picturesque places remote from industrial zones).

Nutrition after chemotherapy course

Food during the treatment carries important functions of recovery. Nutrition after a course of chemotherapy is a real weapon to return to a normal, full life. Food in this period should be balanced. Especially on the table of the former patient should appear products that will help put a barrier on the path of malignant neoplasms, working both for treatment and for prevention.

Products required in the diet:

• Broccoli. It contains an isothiocyanate. It is capable of destroying cancer cells.
• Porridge and cereal flakes.
• Brown rice and nuts.
• Vegetables and fruits. It is desirable to eat vegetables in raw or stewed form.
• In the diet, beans must necessarily be present.
• A fish.
• The use of flour products is better to limit. Bread is only coarse.
• Honey, lemon, dried apricots and raisins - these products can significantly raise hemoglobin.
• Freshly squeezed juices, especially beets and apples. They will bring in the body vitamins C, P, group B and trace elements.
• Herbal teas: with black currant, dog rose, oregano ...

It is necessary to exclude:

• Black tea and coffee.
• Alcohol.
• Fast food.
• Toxic products.
• Products containing dyes, stabilizers, preservatives ...

Many people take the word cancer as a verdict. Do not despair. And if trouble has come to your house - fight. Works in the field of oncology are conducted "on all fronts": innovative methods of treatment, the quality of the anticancer drugs themselves, the development of rehabilitation complexes after all treatment procedures. Thanks to the achievements of recent years, the course of chemotherapy has become less painful, and the percentage of winning the joint work of the doctor and the patient is growing, which means that one more step has been taken in the fight against this terrible disease. Live and fight! After all, life is beautiful!