Chemoprotective agent

A chemo-protective agent[1] is any drug that helps to reduce the side- effects of chemotherapy. These agents protect specific body parts from harmful anti-cancer treatments that could potentially cause permanent damage to important bodily tissues. Chemo-protective agents have only recently been introduced as a factor involved with chemotherapy with the intent to assist those cancer patients that require treatment, which as an end result, improves the patients' quality of life.

Amifostine; A common chemo-protective agent that has been approved by the FDA.

Examples[2] include:

Risks
Chemo-protective agents are used to combat the negative effects of the chemotherapeutic medicine shown above.

Chemo-protective agents are common drugs and like many other drugs, may have side effects of their own. Each agent has different side effects though the most common consist of dizziness, sleepiness, nausea, fever, etc.[3] It is important to discuss the side effects of these drugs with a doctor before using them to combat any type of chemotherapy to insure the drug will benefit each and every patient.

References
  1. "NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms". National Cancer Institute. 2011-02-02. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  2. Cancer, Cleveland Clinic. "Chemoprotective Agents: Amifostine, Mesna, Dexrazoxane - What is Chemotherapy? - Chemocare". chemocare.com. Retrieved 2016-10-13.
  3. "Common Side Effects of Ethyol (Amifostine) Drug Center". RxList. Retrieved 2019-03-25.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from Dictionary of Cancer Terms. U.S. National Cancer Institute.


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