• Question: Do you think there will ever be a way of making chemotherapy less painful or easier for patients to deal with?

    Asked by LB_1107 to Kevin on 8 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Kevin OBrien

      Kevin OBrien answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      Yes, definitely.
      Even in the last few years there have been improvements to the drugs and systems.
      The drugs are advancing to better target the cancer cells, with fewer side effects and collateral damage to healthy cells.

      On the systems side, one of our companies products is a two channel infusion pump, which simultaneously delivers fluid to prevent dehydration along with the chemotherapy drugs, speeding up recovery after a session of treatment.

      There were recently some experimental treatments in the US which involved cancer patients wearing infusion pumps throughout the day which delivered the chemotherapy drugs at a lower rate but over a longer period of time.
      It allowed patients to be more comfortable while receiving treatment, and reduced side effects, due to the lower rate.

Comments

  • Photo: LB_1107

    LB_1107 commented on :

    thats really good

  • Photo: Ted

    Ted commented on :

    Yes, absolutely! One major focus of cancer research is finding out how to target cancer cells without damaging healthy cells. A cancer cell is basically a malfunctioning version of a cell that would normally be in the body – it’s multiplying out of control and the immune system doesn’t recognise the threat because it looks like one of your own cells. Drugs or other treatments which can differentiate between healthy cells and cancer cells (and target the cancer cells) can potentially fix the problem without making the patient sick by damaging a lot of healthy cells.