Chemotherapy

Overview

Chemotherapy is drug treatment to kill cancer cells. Some chemotherapy drugs work because they kill any rapidly dividing cells, and many cancer cells grow and multiply more rapidly than normal cells do. Other chemotherapy drugs attack cancer cells by targeting specific differences between cancer cells and normal cells (targeted therapies).

Many different types of chemotherapy drugs are available. Chemotherapy drugs can be used alone or in combination to treat a wide variety of cancers. Chemotherapy may also be used in combination with other forms of cancer therapy, such as radiation, and it may be used either before or after surgery.

Why choose Mayo Clinic

• Expertise. Mayo Clinic doctors with expertise in cancer (oncologists) have routinely treated cancer using chemotherapy since the 1960s.
• Comprehensive options. Doctors at Mayo Clinic use a wide variety of individualized chemotherapy programs to treat many forms of cancer.
• Experience. Hundreds of patients receive chemotherapy at Mayo Clinic each day, and, annually, more than 1,000 patients receive chemotherapy as part of clinical trials.
• Novel treatments. Ongoing research at Mayo Clinic means you may have access to new chemotherapy regimens that are not available elsewhere.
• Team approach. Mayo Clinic's multispecialty practice makes it easy for Mayo doctors to consult with specialists in other areas. This allows Mayo Clinic to provide comprehensive treatment for people who have cancer as well as other medical conditions that require special management during cancer treatment.
• Excellence. Mayo Clinic Cancer Center was the first multicenter clinic in the United States to be designated a comprehensive cancer center, the highest ranking given by the National Cancer Institute.

Read more about chemotherapy at MayoClinic.com.