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Chemotherapy : To protect you or kill you

chemotherapy
Modern medicine in spite of its effectiveness has its share of adverse effects as well. This applies to treatment of breast cancer which is discovered by the researchers of the American College of Cardiology. In a study published in the October 9 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology it has been found that treatments that cure breast cancer made women more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases.

However, doctors feel that the ‘benefit of savings lives outweighed the risks and were just a part of the accepted cost.’ The warning issued to the doctors by the study is to take a long-term view of the treatment of breast cancer. First treat the cancer, but do not over look the possibility of development of heart diseases in future.

The risk of heart diseases arises from the following factors:

Chest radiation
lack of exercise during treatments
stress
but the greatest damage comes from chemotherapy

The greatest danger comes from the chemotherapy medicines called anthracyclines. These medicines are used for the treatment of a variety of cancers including leukemia, lymphomas, uterine, ovarian and breast cancers.

Researches are underway for overhauling breast cancer therapy using drugs, which have the same effectiveness with little or no side effects. Until then it is advisable to all women – who had recovered from breast cancer – to take seriously dieting and regular exercises.

Source:CNN
Picture:dspace.mit.edu

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