Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that involves the use of one or more anti-cancer medications (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a prescribed chemotherapy regimen. It is sometimes shortened as "chemo" and occasionally CTX or CTx. Chemotherapy may be administered with the intention of curing (which usually always requires drug combinations), extending life, or reducing symptoms (palliative chemotherapy). One of the main subspecialties of the medical field that is exclusively concerned with cancer medication is chemotherapy.

One of the earliest chemotherapy drugs to be used to treat cancer was mustard gas, which was first used as a weapon in World War I. Although it was shown to kill cancerous cells, it also severely injured healthy cells, providing little survival benefit. Methotrexate, which in 1956 treated a rare tumor known as choriocarcinoma, was the first medication to prove its effectiveness in treating cancer. Chemotherapy innovations and the development of several medicines with various modes of action over the ensuing decades of cancer research resulted in significant increases in patient survival and a decline in mortality rates nowadays. Today, 7 main types of chemotherapy are being used: Alkylating agents, Antimetabolites, Anti-tumor antibiotics, Topoisomerase inhibitors, Mitotic inhibitors, Plant alkaloids.

Discovered in: 1919

Discovered by: Eward Krumbhaar

Usage: Treat cancer