What is combination cancer therapy?
Combination therapy, a treatment modality that combines two or more therapeutic agents, is a cornerstone of cancer therapy. The amalgamation of anti-cancer drugs enhances efficacy compared to the mono-therapy approach because it targets key pathways in a characteristically synergistic or an additive manner.
What are the most common drugs used for breast cancer?
Drugs used to treat advanced breast cancer include:
- Albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel or Abraxane)
- Capecitabine (Xeloda)
- Eribulin (Halaven)
- Gemcitabine (Gemzar)
- Ixabepilone (Ixempra)
- Liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil)
- Mitoxantrone.
- Platinum (carboplatin, cisplatin)
What are 4 treatments for breast cancer?
Although systemic drugs are the main treatment for stage IV breast cancer, local and regional treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, or regional chemotherapy are sometimes used as well. These can help treat breast cancer in a specific part of the body, but they are very unlikely to get rid of all of the cancer.
Why combination therapy is used in cancer?
The rationale for combination therapy is to use drugs that work by different mechanisms, thereby decreasing the likelihood that resistant cancer cells will develop. When drugs with different effects are combined, each drug can be used at its optimal dose, without intolerable side effects.
What is the benefit of combination therapy?
Conditions treated with combination therapy include tuberculosis, leprosy, cancer, malaria, and HIV/AIDS. One major benefit of combination therapies is that they reduce development of drug resistance since a pathogen or tumor is less likely to have resistance to multiple drugs simultaneously.
What are the side-effects of combination therapy?
The most common side-effects of combined chemohormonal therapy were gastro-intestinal (nausea, vomiting, rarely diarrhoea) in 43 patients (57.3%), followed by alopecia in 23 patients (30.6%), myelosuppression in 12 patients (16%), extravasation and thrombophlebitis in 7 patients (9.3%), and mucositis and oral erythema …