Chemotherapy and other antineoplastic drug treatments

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Burns, C. Patrick Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa.

Vaena, Daniel A. Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Department of Medicine and the University of Iowa Cancer Center, Iowa City Veterans Administration Medical Center, Iowa City, Iowa.

Last reviewed:January 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.128900

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• Chemotherapy and other antineoplastic drugs, published June 2014:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

The administration of chemical substances for the treatment of disease, especially cancer, or for the prevention of aberrant growth of cells or tissues (neoplasms). In general, chemotherapy is the use of chemicals to treat any disease, but the term has come to be applied most commonly to the use of drugs to treat cancer and that exhibit cytotoxic activity through inhibition of cell division. In addition, several other classes of drugs (biologicals) are being used to treat cancer. These antineoplastic drug treatments (Fig. 1) are often used in conjunction with conventional chemotherapy. Cancer is an abnormal growth or proliferation of cells that tends to invade locally or spread to distant parts of the body. Several treatment modalities can be used to fight cancer. Surgery physically removes the abnormal growth, whereas radiation therapy, immunotherapy, hormonal therapy, and chemotherapy are directed at killing or slowing the growth of cancerous cells. See also: Biologicals; Cancer; Hormone; Immunotherapy; Oncology; Radiation therapy; Surgery

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