The term chemotherapy (pronounced: kee-mo-ther-uh-pee), which is sometimes shortened to chemo, refers to the use of medications to treat cancer. Cancer is a disease that occurs when cells in the body develop abnormally and grow in an uncontrolled way. Cancer cells tend to divide rapidly. Chemotherapy works by interfering with the way cells divide, thereby preventing the cancer from spreading - and sometimes even curing the disease by helping to get rid of all the cancer cells in the body.

How Is Chemo Given?
A pediatric oncologist (pronounced: on-kah-luh-jist), a doctor who treats cancer in children and teens, will work with other health care professionals to decide on the type of chemotherapy treatment that will work best for each individual cancer patient.

There are many different ways that teens are given chemo medications, including:

• Intravenously (IV). A needle is inserted into a vein and the medicine flows from an IV bag or bottle into the bloodstream. Chemo can also be delivered intravenously through a catheter, a thin flexible tube that is placed in a large vein in the body.
• Orally. The person getting treatment swallows a pill, capsule, or liquid form of chemo medication.
• By injection. Using a needle or syringe, the drugs are injected into a muscle or under the skin.
• Intrathecally. A needle is inserted into the fluid-filled space surrounding the spinal cord and the chemo drugs are injected into the spinal fluid.

Chemotherapy may be used alone to treat cancer, or it may be used in combination with other cancer treatments, such as radiation therapy (pronounced: ray-dee-ay-shun ther-uh-pee) or surgery. Radiation therapy directs high-energy X-rays at a person's body to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Surgery helps to remove larger tumors, making the job of the chemotherapy easier. The kind of therapy a person receives is based on the type of cancer that person has and whether it has spread to areas outside where it started.

Most cancers in teens are treated with more than one chemotherapy drug; doctors refer to this as combination chemotherapy. For a lot of people, combination therapy improves the chances that their cancer will be cured - the cancer has less chance of building up a resistance to a combination of chemotherapy drugs than it does to just one drug. (Resistance means that the body no longer reacts to that medication.) Another important strategy in treating cancer is giving a person repeated courses of chemotherapy. This helps prevent the cancer cells from regrowing.

People who feel nervous about receiving chemo can ask about touring the hospital or clinic before treatment begins to help them feel more at ease. People who are being treated for cancer can also join a support group for teens and families coping with cancer.

When and Where Is Chemo Given?
A person can receive chemotherapy treatments at a hospital, cancer treatment center, doctor's office, or at home. Most teens receive their chemo treatments at a clinic or hospital and go home after chemo. Sometimes, though, people who are getting chemo treatments may need to stay in the hospital so doctors can watch for side effects.

Some people receive chemotherapy every day; others receive it every week or every month. Doctors use the word "cycles" to describe chemotherapy treatments because the treatment periods are mixed in with periods of rest.

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