chemotherapy

chemotherapy
Treatment of disease by means of chemical substances or drugs; usually used in reference to neoplastic disease. SEE ALSO: pharmacotherapy.
- adjuvant c. c. given in addition to surgical therapy, in order to reduce the risk of local or systemic relapse.
- combination c. c. with more than one drug, to benefit from their dissimilar toxicities.
- consolidation c. repetitive cycles of treatment during the immediate post-remission period, used especially for leukemia. SYN: intensification c..
- cytostatic c. c. that does not allow tumor cell proliferation, but may not kill cells.
- cytotoxic c. c. designed to kill tumor cells.
- induction c. use of c. as initial treatment before surgery or radiotherapy of a malignancy.
- intensification c. SYN: consolidation c..
- salvage c. use of c. in a patient with recurrence of a malignancy following initial treatment, in hope of a cure or prolongation of life. SYN: salvage therapy.

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che·mo·ther·a·py -'ther-ə-pē n, pl -pies the use of chemical agents in the treatment or control of disease or mental disorder

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n.
the prevention or treatment of disease by the use of chemical substances. The term is increasingly restricted to the treatment of cancer with antimetabolites and similar drugs (see cytotoxic drug), in contrast to radiotherapy, but is also still sometimes used for antibiotic and other treatment of infectious diseases.

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che·mo·ther·a·py (ke″mo-therґə-pe) the treatment of disease by chemical agents; originally applied to use of chemicals that affect the causative organism unfavorably but do not harm the patient. Cf. pharmacotherapy. chemotherapeutic adj

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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