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The systems of the body most affected by chemotherapy drugs include visual and semantic memory, attention and motor coordination and executive functioning. [9] [10] These effects can impair a chemotherapy patient's ability to understand and make decisions regarding treatment, perform in school or employment and can reduce quality of life. [10]
Weight gain can also be caused by some steroid medications. These side-effects can frequently be reduced or eliminated with antiemetic drugs. Low-certainty evidence also suggests that probiotics may have a preventative and treatment effect of diarrhoea related to chemotherapy alone and with radiotherapy. [86]
Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is a common side-effect of many cancer treatments. Nausea and vomiting are two of the most feared cancer treatment-related side effects for cancer patients and their families.
Bone marrow suppression is a serious side effect of chemotherapy and certain drugs affecting the immune system such as azathioprine. [2] The risk is especially high in cytotoxic chemotherapy for leukemia. In the case of non-small-cell lung cancer, myelosuppression predisposition was shown to be modulated by enhancer mutations. [3]
Long-term effects were also a concern, as patients were often cured and could expect long survival after chemotherapy. Infertility was a major long-term side effect, and even more seriously, the risk of developing treatment-related myelodysplasia or acute leukemia was increased up to 14-fold in patients who received MOPP. [14]
Sensory side effects include paresthesias, dysesthesias, numbness, altered proprioception, and loss of dexterity in fingers and toes. Motor and autonomic symptoms are less frequent but possible. Symptoms may start days after the patient receives their first dose of chemotherapy, are dose dependent, and tend to improve after completion of treatment.
A painting from 1681 depicting a person affected by nausea and vomiting. Cancer and nausea are associated in about fifty percent of people affected by cancer. [1] This may be as a result of the cancer itself, or as an effect of the treatment such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or other medication such as opiates used for pain relief.
Electrochemotherapy employs lower dosages of chemotherapeutic drugs than standard chemotherapy protocols; thus, the patient's burden usually associated to chemotherapy is not present. In the clinical use of electrochemotherapy, limited side effects related to bleomycin or cisplatin use are recorded.
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