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It may also refer to the administration of heparin to prevent deep venous thrombosis in hospitalized patients. In some cases, chemoprophylaxis is initiated to prevent the spread of an existing infection in an individual to a new organ system, as when intrathecal chemotherapy is administered in patients with malignancy to prevent further infection.
[2] [3] It is sometimes practiced in patients with severe burns and leukemia, or those undergoing chemotherapy. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] When reverse isolation is practiced in laminar air flow or high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered rooms, there was an improvement in survival for patients receiving bone marrow or stem cell grafts.
Blood cell growth factors are sometimes used to prevent this (see Supportive care below). Blood counts are checked frequently while receiving chemotherapy. Any fever or sign of infection that develops needs to be promptly evaluated; severe infections can develop rapidly in a person with a low white blood cell count due to chemotherapy.
The word chemotherapy without a modifier usually refers to cancer treatment, but its historical meaning was broader. The term was coined in the early 1900s by Paul Ehrlich as meaning any use of chemicals to treat any disease (chemo-+ -therapy), such as the use of antibiotics (antibacterial chemotherapy). [194]
Universal precautions are an infection control practice. Under universal precautions all patients were considered to be possible carriers of blood-borne pathogens. The guideline recommended wearing gloves when collecting or handling blood and body fluids contaminated with blood, wearing face shields when there was danger of blood splashing on mucous membranes ,and disposing of all needles and ...
The main classes of antimicrobial agents are disinfectants (non-selective agents, such as bleach), which kill a wide range of microbes on non-living surfaces to prevent the spread of illness, antiseptics (which are applied to living tissue and help reduce infection during surgery), and antibiotics (which destroy microorganisms within the body).
Cancer treatments are a wide range of treatments available for the many different types of cancer, with each cancer type needing its own specific treatment. [1] Treatments can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy including small-molecule drugs or monoclonal antibodies, [2] and PARP inhibitors such as olaparib. [3]
The modern day notion of asepsis is derived from the older antiseptic techniques, a shift initiated by different individuals in the 19th century who introduced practices such as the sterilizing of surgical tools and the wearing of surgical gloves during operations. [2] The goal of asepsis is to eliminate infection, not to achieve sterility. [1]