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How Are Chemo Drugs Selected?

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment designed to damage or kill cancer cells either locally or throughout the body. Doctors make chemo drug selections for individual patients based on several different factors.

  1. The Facts

    • According to the National Cancer Institute, doctors use chemotherapy to cure or control cancer, as well to ease its symptoms. Patients may receive chemotherapy treatments through an IV (intravenously), by injection, orally, topically (through the skin), through an artery or directly through the abdominal cavity.

    Selection Factors

    • The American Cancer Society (ACS) cites several factors that affect a doctor's choice of chemotherapy agents. These include the patient's age and overall health, the type of cancer present, the cancer's degree of progression and any previous cancer treatments the patient may have received.

    Reviewing Previous Cases

    • Doctors will also typically refer to previous patients with similar circumstances and note which treatments were effective, according to the ACS.

    Selecting Chemotherapy Combinations

    • In most cases, doctors fight cancer with a combination of chemotherapy drugs that have different effects on cancer cells. When choosing these drugs, they look for the best overlap of effectiveness combined with the fewest possible harmful side effects.

    Treatment Schedules

    • After selecting appropriate chemo drugs, doctors create treatment schedules that give these drugs access to cancer cells at vulnerable points in their life cycles.

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