Esphageal Cancer Chemotherapy
Most people with esophageal cancer get chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can be used alone or in combination with radiation and surgery. Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. The drugs for esophageal cancer are usually given through a vein (intravenous). This allows the drug to travel through the blood stream to where cancer cells are located.
Chemotherapy is usually given in cycles. Each cycle has a treatment period followed by a rest period.
Drugs commonly used to treat esophageal cancer are, but not limited to cisplatin, irinotecan or paclitaxel. There are currently on going studies at RPCI using novel therapeutic drugs and novel agents in an effort to improve the care of patients with esophageal cancer.
The side effects of chemotherapy depend mainly on which drugs are given. Chemotherapy kills fast-growing cancer cells, but the drug can also harm normal cells that divide rapidly, causing side effects such as low blood cell counts, poor appetite or GI symptoms. Your healthcare team can suggest ways to control many of these problems. Most go away when treatment ends.
You may want to ask your doctor these questions before having chemotherapy:
- Which drugs will I get?
- When will treatment start? When will it end? How often will I have treatments?
- Where will I go for treatment? Will I have to stay in the hospital?
- What can I do to take care of myself during treatment?
- How will we know the treatment is working?
- Will I have side effects during treatment? What side effects should I tell you about? Can I prevent or treat any of these side effects?
- Can these drugs cause side effects later on?
