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How Chemotherapy is given:

Chemotherapy drugs can be given in variety of different ways. It depends on the type and stage of cancer that how the chemotherapy is given to the patient. There are many different ways to get drugs in patient's body; the doctors call them routes of administration. The different ways of chemo treatment depends upon:

• The type of cancer


• Body part which is affected by cancer


• Drug's type which is used to treat (for example some are injected and some are taken as tablets.)

There are different ways of getting drug into the body of the patient, they are mentioned below:

• Injecting them directly into vein also referred as IV (intravenously).


• Given through tablets, capsule, liquid etc (orally).


• Through infusion pump (drip).

If the patient gets chemo treatment orally i.e. through tablets, capsules , he can continue his chemo treatment at home. But he still needed to visit the outpatient department for regular checkups. All the tablets, pills, liquid etc are given by the pharmacy department with the instructions about how and when to take the drugs. Please strictly follow the instructions, if any dose is missed contact doctor immediately.

In intravenous chemo treatment (direct into vein), it is given through a venous access device. There are different types of venous access devices. The patient can choose the type of device; however the choice will be depend on the type of therapy and physical condition of patient. Sometimes choice isn't possible but the doctor and nurse will discuss the device appropriate for the patient.

Usually, chemotherapy is not painful like other injection and blood test. But sometimes veins become hardened or sore. If this happens patient should tell the doctor or nurse so they can avoid sore area. Some drugs can cause damage if they leak out of the vein during injection. If anything feels like stinging, 'burning' or pain during receiving the drug, tell the doctor straight away. After the injections, if arm or hand is sore, painful or swollen where the cannula was sited or in the area around the catheter or port, please contact the nurse or doctor.

There are some less common ways of having chemotherapy also:

• Injections into muscle.
• Injection under skin.
• Chemo into artery (giving the drugs directly into the arteries that are close to the cancer).
• Chemo into spinal canal (for leukaemia etc.).
• Chemo into a body cavity (injecting chemotherapy through a tube (catheter), directly into a body cavity).
• Chemo into the pleura (Chemotherapy can be given directly into the space between the two layers of skin-like tissue that cover the lungs (the pleura). This is called intrapleural chemotherapy. For lung cancer, breast cancer etc.).
• Chemo into the tumour (intralesional or intratumoural chemotherapy, for a rare type of cancer Kaposi's sarcoma).

The chemotherapy cycle lasts from a few hours to few days depending on the chemotherapy drug or combination of drugs. Doctor may recommend that patient should continue chemo at a lower dose for some weeks or months to keep steady level of drug in the bloodstream. Drug received from infusion pump is known as ambulatory chemotherapy.