Hi Tracey and Yoli, Though it's true that in a certain technical sense, the term chemotherapy might include IM, heme-oncs generally use it more narrowly to refer to toxic agents which (hopefully) kill cancer cells faster than they do normal ones. Chemotherapeutic agents cause cell death by several means, but mostly they interfere with either metabolism or reproduction. This common usage would exclude IM, which doesn't kill normal cells at all, and which impedes neither DNA synthesis nor metabolism (it's actually not known why IM kills Phillies so effectively).
Following is a definition of chemotherapy from the NHS's website: "Although all treatment using drugs can be termed chemotherapy, the word is most often used to describe treatment by strong cytotoxic drugs for serious diseases such as cancer. 'Cytotoxic' means that the drug destroys rapidly growing cancer cells. Cytotoxic drugs are useful in the treatment of many forms of cancer. Drugs based on sex hormones are also used to treat cancer (eg tamoxifen for breast cancer). Although they are sometimes referred to as chemotherapy, they are more often known as hormone-therapy drugs. Normally, cells divide and reproduce in an orderly and controlled manner. In cancer, however, cells multiply without proper control. Chemotherapy works by interfering with the ability of the cancer cells to reproduce." Cheers, Richard R > Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 00:56:57 -0000 > From: "traceyincanada" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Chemotherapy--Yoli > > > Hi Yoli, > > Technically speaking, chemotherapy is drug therapy used to treat > cancer so yes Gleevec is a drug so it's chemotherapy. People often > look at the word "chemotherapy" to mean intravenous therapy but > essentially all the word "chemo" means is "chemical" or "drug" which > of course Gleevec is. > > Take care, > Tracey > > > -- In [email protected], Yoli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Is Gleevec considered chemotheraphy? Thank you for your > responses. Yolanda. >> >> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give the gift of life to a sick child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/3iazvD/6WnJAA/xGEGAA/8zSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> New! Sign up for local CML support group meetings in your local community at http://cml.meetup.com Apply for Commercial Real Estate loans online and submit your deal to dozens of hungry lenders in just minutes. Loan programs for all types of business and commercial real estate. Apply anytime at http://realestatezoo.com CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Support List) --------------------------------- Part Of CMLHope.Com An International Community Of CML Patients For more information: http://cmlhope.com Post Message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To No Mail/Web: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Digest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CML Group Web Site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
