Question

a nurse in an outpatient treatment center is caring for a client who receives regular iv chemotherapy sessions. the nurse understands that one important goal of chemotherapy is what?

Answer 1

The goal of chemotherapy is to eradicate cancer cells with the use of anticancer drugs that target rapidly dividing cells. Combination chemotherapy often uses multiple drugs to enhance treatment effectiveness, while targeted chemotherapy aims to reduce side effects by focusing on cancer cells more selectively.

Step-by-step explanation:

One important goal of chemotherapy when treating cancer patients in an outpatient treatment center is to eradicate the cancerous cells without causing excessive harm to the body's healthy cells. Chemotherapy drugs work by targeting rapidly dividing cells, which includes not only the cancer cells but also other fast-growing cells in the body, such as those in the hair roots and the digestive system lining. Combination chemotherapy, the use of multiple drugs simultaneously, is often employed to enhance the effectiveness of treatment.

These anticancer drugs ideally aim to achieve 'total cell-kill' which is the complete destruction of the cancer cells that are necessary for the treatment to be considered curative. Unfortunately, due to the lack of specificity of most chemotherapy drugs, side effects can be significant, given that healthy cells in the body that rapidly divide can also be affected. This is why targeted chemotherapy has become an important focus, as it aims to discriminate more effectively between cancerous and normal cells, thereby minimizing adverse side effects.