What is Chemotherapy?
Category: Prescription Drugs
Chemotherapy, or "chemo", is the use of medications to treat cancer. More specifically, chemo is used to kill cancer cells that are located anywhere inside the body. While any one chemotherapy medication can be used to treat cancer, they are often used in combination to improve outcomes.
| Purpose | Patients | Evaluations | Perceived Effectiveness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breast cancer | 1842 | 89 | |
| Adenocarcinoma (non-small cell lung cancer) | 1160 | 56 | |
| Non-small cell lung cancer | 710 | 21 | |
| Squamous cell carcinoma (non-small cell lung cancer) | 444 | 24 | |
| Small cell lung cancer | 334 | 9 | |
| Small cell carcinoma (small cell lung cancer) | 300 | 5 |
- Major
- Moderate
- Slight
- None
- Can't tell
Side effects
Side effects as an overall problem
| Severity | Evaluations | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Severe | 59 | |
| Moderate | 108 | |
| Mild | 77 | |
| None | 17 |
Why patients stopped taking Chemotherapy
Multiple reasons could be selected
| Reason | Patients | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Course of treatment ended | 23 | |
| Side effects too severe | 4 | |
| Did not seem to work | 3 | |
| Doctor's advice | 3 |
Duration
Stopped receiving Chemotherapy
| Duration | Patients | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 1 month | 2 | |
| 1 - 6 months | 32 | |
| 6 months - 1 year | 7 | |
| 1 - 2 years | 1 | |
| 2 - 5 years | 2 | |
| 10 years or more | 1 |
What people switch to and from
Patients started receiving Chemotherapy after stopping:
| Treatment | Patients | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Osimertinib (Tagrisso) | 2 | |
| Afatinib (Gilotrif) | 1 | |
| Anastrozole (Arimidex) | 1 | |
| Chemotherapy | 1 | |
| Citalopram (Celexa) | 1 |
Patients stopped receiving Chemotherapy and switched to:
| Treatment | Patients | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Nivolumab (Opdivo) | 20 | |
| Osimertinib (Tagrisso) | 5 | |
| Tamoxifen (Tamoxol) | 5 | |
| Afatinib (Gilotrif) | 4 | |
| Crizotinib (Xalkori) | 3 |
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