Normally, your cells grow and die in a controlled way. But cancer cells keep forming without control. Chemotherapy is a drug therapy that can stop these cells from multiplying.

During chemotherapy you may have no side effects or just a few. The kinds of side effects you have depend on the type and dose of chemotherapy you get. Side effects vary, but common ones are nausea, vomiting, tiredness, pain and hair loss. Healthy cells usually recover after chemotherapy, so most side effects gradually go away.

Your course of therapy will depend on the cancer type, the chemotherapy drugs used, the treatment goal and how your body responds. You may get treatment every day, every week or every month. You may have breaks between treatments so that your body has a chance to build new healthy cells. You might take the drugs by mouth, in a shot or intravenously. Chemotherapy uses drugs which interfere with the growth and division of malignant cells. Once the drugs are administered, they circulate throughout the body. It is advantageous over surgery & radiation for treating cancer that is systemic (spread throughout the body). Chemotherapy is very useful in treating cancers like leukemia, lymphomas, testicular cancer.

Chemotherapy can be given as the primary treatment or following surgery or along with radiotherapy to prevent reappearance of cancer.