Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy,
the use of drugs to kill cancer cells, is sometimes used to treat
melanoma. The drugs are usually given
in cycles: a treatment period followed
by a recovery period, then another treatment period, and so on. Usually a patient has chemotherapy as an
outpatient (at the hospital, at the doctor’s office, or at home). However, depending on which drugs are given
and the patient’s general health, a short hospital stay may be needed.
People with melanoma may receive chemotherapy in one of the
following ways:
By mouth or injection—Either way, the
drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body.
Isolated limb perfusion
(also called isolated arterial perfusion)—For melanoma on an arm or leg,
chemotherapy drugs are put directly into the bloodstream of that limb. The flow
of blood to and from the limb is stopped for a while. This allows most of the
drug to reach the tumor directly. Most of the chemotherapy remains in that
limb.
The drugs may be heated before injection. This type of chemotherapy is called
hyperthermic perfusion.
< Previous Section | Next Section > |