Chemotherapy, also referred to as ‘chemo’, is a common yet powerful drug treatment used to destroy or slow the growth of cancer cells.
For some cancer patients, the thought of having to undergo chemotherapy could be frightening. At UF Health, we believe that educating patients on how chemotherapy works and what to expect following a treatment plan can help calm feelings of anxiety while also empowering patients.
While surgery and radiation therapy works to remove, destroy, or damage cancer cells in a specific area, chemo works throughout the whole body. This means chemo can destroy cancer cells that have spread or metastasized to parts of the body far away from the original, or primary tumor site.
At UF Health, your cancer treatment team is a group of expert neuro-oncologists and specialized physicians, all working closely with you to choose the most effective medicine or combination of chemotherapy medicines for your individualized care. We’ll determine the appropriate dosages, delivery methods, and duration of treatment—tailored to your specific needs. This personalized approach is guided by several factors including the following:
Cancer can be treated with a single chemotherapy drug, but often, several drugs are used in a certain order or in certain combinations, called combination chemotherapy. Different chemotherapy drugs that work in a variety of ways can work together to kill more cancer cells. This can also help lower the chance that the cancer may become resistant to any one chemotherapy drug.
Because chemotherapy travels throughout the body, normal, healthy cells can also be affected. According to the American Cancer Society, the most common chemotherapy side effects include:
The University of Florida Health Cancer Center recently received a prestigious designation from the National Cancer Institute, or NCI, joining the ranks of the nation's most distinguished cancer centers, becoming the 72nd in the United States and the only one in North Central Florida. The designation recognizes the rigorous standards UF Health has met in leading-edge cancer research programs, advanced scientific leadership, distinctive training programs and forward-thinking community outreach. What does the NCI designation mean for you? UF Health’s NCI designation offers cancer patients the reassurance that they have access to the most advanced treatments and innovative care — driven by breakthrough cancer research from dedicated scientists.
The human brain has a remarkable defense system that filters bacteria and chemicals. For brain tumor patients, the barrier works almost too well by blocking most chemotherapy drugs.
At UF Health, our team has found that a laser system already used to kill brain tumors has another benefit: It opens a temporary "window" in the blood-brain barrier that enables crucial chemotherapy drugs to pass into the brain for up to six weeks. The discovery raises the possibility that a host of chemotherapy drugs once rendered ineffective by the blood-brain barrier could now be used against glioblastoma, which is the most common malignant brain tumor found in adults.
Recent research shows that the blood-brain barrier can be temporarily disrupted at tumor sites. This disruption provides a precise location and a longer "window of opportunity" for chemotherapy drugs to enter the tumor and take effect. The blood-brain barrier opens soon after a procedure known as MRI-guided laser ablation. Using a probe no larger than a pencil, physicians use the laser to heat and kill tumors. A beneficial side effect is that the laser beam creates the perfect temperature around the tumor — just warm enough to disrupt the blood-brain barrier but not so hot that neurons die.
Opening the blood-brain barrier also raises the possibility that immunological techniques can be used more effectively against brain tumors. A leaky barrier allows the tumor to be recognized more readily by the immune system and provides immune cells better access to the tumor. Early research is showing that laser ablation could enable the body’s immune system to attack the tumor. However, cancer cells sometimes find ways to dodge the body’s immune system. Combining laser ablation technology with certain drugs that prevent tumor cells from evading the immune system could greatly enhance immunotherapy.
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UF Health research scientists make medicine better every day. They discover new ways to help people by running clinical trials. When you join a clinical trial, you can get advanced medical care. Sometimes years before it's available everywhere. You can also help make medicine better for everyone else. If you'd like to learn more about clinical trials, visit our clinical trials page. Or click one of the links below:
This phase II trial studies the best approach to combine chemotherapy and radiation therapy (RT) based on the patient's response to induction chemotherapy in patients with non-germinomatous germ cell tumors (NGGCT) that have not spread to other…
This is a multicenter, two-arm, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Optune® (Tumor Treating Fields at 200 kHz) together with maintenance Temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy agent and pembrolizumab compared to Optune® together with…
In this study we are evaluating the safety and feasibility of the triple combination (TTFields, MLA, pembrolizumab) in adult patients diagnosed with recurrent or progressive glioblastoma (GBM) WHO Grade IV, IDH wild type or recurrent or progressive…