A New Treatment For Cancer?

Chemotherapy has been the go-to cancer treatment for decades, but is a new test about to spark a revolution?

- Natalia Lubomirski

Chemotherapy is certainly a mixed bag in the cancer world. while it’s transformed cancer treatment over the decades – having helped double UK cancer survival rates over the past 40 years – its unpleasant side effects often paint it in a negative light, with many sufferers desperate for an alternative. Could a new test spare women the agony of chemo? we speak to Caroline Geraghty, Information nurse at Cancer Research UK, to find out more…

The chemo effect

When chemotherapy was first used in the 1940s, it provided a lifeline for cancer sufferers, whose only previous option was surgery. it’s a systemic treatment, which means it works by circulating in your bloodstream, killing cancer cells almost anywhere in the body. it damages the genes inside the nucleus of the cells, often while they are in the process of dividing.

However, as it doesn’t distinguish between normal and cancerous cells, it can often affect healthy body tissues, which are also constantly growing and dividing, such as your hair, bone marrow, skin and the lining of your digestive system. this can result in horrible side effects, such as vomiting, diarrhoea, hair loss, dry, sore or itchy skin and mouth ulcers.