Comprehensive Analysis: Chemotherapy's Side Effects on Cancer Patients

This report examines the side effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients, addressing its use, common side effects, and their impact on patient health and treatment. It begins with an introduction outlining the increasing use of chemotherapy and its aim to either cure or prolong life. The report explores the purpose, significance, and research questions related to chemotherapy's impact. A literature review discusses why chemotherapy is used, detailing its effectiveness in destroying cancer cells, often in conjunction with other treatments. The report then delves into the side effects, including immunosuppression, fatigue, hair loss, and infertility, and their consequences on patients' physical and mental well-being. The report highlights how these side effects can lead to infections, cognitive impairment, and reduced quality of life, emphasizing the need for healthcare professionals and patients to be aware of these effects for informed decision-making during the treatment process. The report concludes by providing an overview of the various aspects of chemotherapy and its side effects.

Chemotherapy's Side Effects
on Cancer Patients

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Background..................................................................................................................................3
Aim..............................................................................................................................................3
Objective......................................................................................................................................3
Research Question.......................................................................................................................4
Significance and Purpose.............................................................................................................4
Literature Review............................................................................................................................4
Why chemotherapy is used to treat Cancer patients?..................................................................4
What are the side effects of chemotherapy on Cancer patients?.................................................5
How negative side effects impact the health and treatment of Cancer patient?..........................5

INTRODUCTION
Background
As the number of cancer patients in the world keeps on steadily increasing, healthcare
professionals around the world are steadily recommending increasing number of cancer patients
to undergo chemotherapy as a viable treatment method for countering cancer. Chemotherapy is a
cancer treatment method that makes use of singular or multiple anti cancer drugs with the
intention to either prolong the remaining life patient suffering from critical stages of cancer or to
cure patients in initial phases of cancer. The anti cancer drugs used in chemotherapy are designed
with the intention to introduce them directly into the patient’s blood stream so that the anti
cancer drugs can address cancer in the patient’s body irrespective of the anatomic location of the
cancer present over the patient’s body.
Though it has been proven that cancer can be treated effectively through the use of
chemotherapy method, chemotherapy treatment can also result in various side effects for the
patient such as immunosuppression which is the condition where the patient’s immune system
gets suppressed, which happens due to the paralysing of bone marrow, resulting in a reduction in
the patient’s red, white blood cells and platelets. As the immune system becomes suppressed, the
patient can suffer from Typhlitis, which is a condition where the patient’s intestine get infected
and presents itself through symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea, chills, fever etc. for
the patient. Other side effects of chemotherapy also include fatigue, vomiting, hair loss,
infertility, organ damage etc.
Aim
To evaluate the side effects of chemotherapy on Cancer patients.
Objective
To assess the effectiveness of chemotherapy method in treating Cancer patients.
To evaluate the side effects chemotherapy can have on cancer patients.

To analyse ways in which negative effects of chemotherapy impact the health and
treatment of Cancer patient.
Research Question
Why chemotherapy is used to treat Cancer patients?
What are the side effects of chemotherapy on Cancer patients?
How negative side effects impact the health and treatment of Cancer patient?
Significance and Purpose
The purpose of this research paper is to evaluate the side effects of chemotherapy on
Cancer patients. This is of immense significance to the healthcare industry, organisation and
professionals as the number of cancer patients in the world keeps increasing and the side effects
to the most common treatment of Cancer should be publicly available for patients and healthcare
professionals to make an informed decision about the treatment process.
Literature Review
Why chemotherapy is used to treat Cancer patients?
Chemotherapy is the prescribed treatment for patients suffering from various stages of
cancer. It is a type of chemical drug therapy that is used on patients with the intention to
effectively and efficiently destroy the harmful and hazardous cancer cells and keep them from
multiplying to bigger sizes. As the cancer cells have a great multiplication rate and can effective
double in a short period of time, chemotherapy treatment is preferred by healthcare professionals
to rapidly destroy cancer cells in the patient’s body and to avoid any further increased damage
from cancer. Though chemotherapy is effective, its prescribed treatment by healthcare
professionals is done in combination or addition to other therapies designed to counter the cancer
cells from wreaking havoc inside the patient’s body such as radiation, surgery, hormone therapy
etc. The combination of the treatment is totally dependent on the patient’s health, growth of
cancer in body, organ which has been infected etc. Chemotherapy is widely used by healthcare
professional due to its ability to reduce cancer cells from multiplying and spreading, shrink
tumour size by reducing the number of cancer cells present in the body which can help the

patient recover or at least provide him with more time with which other treatment methods can
be tried.
What are the side effects of chemotherapy on Cancer patients?
Though chemotherapy is prescribed regularly by healthcare professionals as an effective
and efficient treatment for patients suffering from various stages of cancer, it can have major side
effects on the physical and mental health of the patients. Many of these are quite common to
occur with patients undergoing the chemical drug therapy that is chemotherapy, which can
additionally hamper their body’s functioning though taking care of their cancer. The most
common side effects amongst patients is weight loss, hair loss, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite,
insomnia, which can be relatively easily cured by adequate healthcare services. Contrastingly,
some side effects of chemotherapy can have major side effects on the immune systems of
patients, as the drugs used in chemotherapy tend to suppress the immune systems of patients,
which makes them increasingly susceptible to various kinds of infections, suffer excessive pain
from nerve damage and undergo excessive bruising and bleeding in cases of even minor injuries
or scratches. Another major side effect of chemotherapy is its tendency to make the patients
infertile as many types of chemotherapies are gonadotoxic in nature.
How negative side effects impact the health and treatment of Cancer patient?
The negative side effects of chemotherapy have lasting and immense impact on the
physical and mental health of patients suffering from various stages of cancer. As many types of
chemotherapies used by healthcare professionals are gonadotoxic in nature, it effectively
suppresses the patient’s immune system operations making them increasingly susceptible to
major infections and diseases from minor cuts, scratches and bruises. This has an immensely
negative impact on the patient’s outdoor and social life, as patients are constantly scared of
getting bruises and scratches from minor outdoor incidents. This also has an immensely negative
impact on their mental health as they also cannot enjoy the freedoms that they used to cherish
prior to being diagnosed with cancer. Infertility amongst interested women and mothers is
another major cause of distress and depression amongst the female patients, adding to the
enormous stress of cancer, which affects them both physically and mentally. In addition, many
times chemotherapy results in impairing of cognitive reasoning for its patients which not only
results in them losing ability to perform daily duties effectively, also places quite a burden on

their family and friends, further affecting the mental wellbeing of the patient suffering from
cancer.