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R-CHOP Chemotherapy and its effects

Introduction

Cancer is one of the most deadly diseases. Cancer is basically a disease that damages the cells in the body. It spreads damaging all the cells in the body. The body is helpless in combating the disease without external help. Chemotherapy is the only method which is used when the cancer is diagnosed and has reached a certain level. In a crux, the patient is exposed to Gamma rays along with a dosage of drugs in order to destroy the 'diseased cells'. One of the most pronounced side effects of chemo therapy includes hair fall. However, chemotherapy isn't one single treatment. It has many regimes in itself as well. They are dependent on the combination of the drugs used in tandem with the gamma ray therapy. In this paper I shall be focusing on one particular regime, the R-CHOP regime, its application, side effects and their managements.

Discussion

The R-CHOP regime is an abbreviation of the term Rituximab, Cytoxan, Hydroxydaunorubicin (Adriamycin), Oncovin (Vincristine), Prednisone/Prednisolone. This are the names of drugs used in chemotherapy for NHL (Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas). It is a modern mixture invention which includes the addition of the Rituximab drug to the conventional CHOP mixture, which is a monoclonal antibody.

The R-CHOP regime has now become the standard chemotherapy regime to be used for the BLBCL (Diffusion of Large B-Cell Lymphoma ) which is one of the most abundantly found kind of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

The Rituximab drug, which is the key element of the R-CHOP regime, is part of the monoclonal antibody drug group. The purpose of these drugs is to destroy cancerous cells that are present in the body, while at the same time, leaving the normal cells alone. They created in such a way, so as to identify certain proteins that are present in certain cancer cell's surfaces. The monoclonal antibody identifies the specific kind of protein and wedges itself on it. This kind of behavior in the body, acts as signal for the immune system to attack the 'bad cells'.

It is used in order to treat a variety of different kinds of lymphoma B-cells. It attaches itself on CD20, a protein that is found on the surface of B-cell lymphocytes, which is one of the core kinds of normal white cells. It can also be found on the surfaces of B-cell lymphocytes that are most abnormal in nature. They can be found in a few kinds of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The drug Rituximab attacks both the normal B-cell lymphocytes and the abnormal or malignant (cancerous) cells. The body is able to recuperate because it is able to replace the healthy white blood cells that destroyed or that are damaged, very quickly.

The Ingredients and R-CHOP Regime

The Rituximab is given slowly via drip over a period of a couple of hours because it can cause allergic reactions in people. In the event the reaction does develop, the infusion is stopped and then re-continued in smaller quantities once the reactions have ...