Myelosuppression during chemotherapy for various cancers


Myelosuppression is easily the most common dose-limiting side-effect of chemotherapy. Few cytotoxic agents aren't myelo-suppressive. Even though this condition is usually reversible, it may cause complications due to infection and bleeding complications.

Myelosuppression or bone marrow depression occurs since the antineoplastic agents aren't selective; they attack the cells of cancer and also the mitotic normal cells. Recent research in the utilization of hematopoietic growth factors along with a new generation of antibiotics have lessened the incidence of myelosuppression, especially in high-dose regimens and in intense multimodality therapy.

The primary manifestations of myelosuppression are anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia. A short discussion of hematopoiesis will help the nurse understand the way the different agents could cause this kind of toxicity.

Hematopoiesis is regulated by endogenous glycoproteins called colony-stimulating factors. These substances are growth factors accountable for producing precursor and progenitor cells of all of the major cell lines. The bone marrow provides the pluripotent stem cells, the precursors towards the main blood components, including erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets.

Myelosuppression is caused by the destruction of those circulating progenitor cells, which depletes the amount of circulating mature blood cells. This reduction causes the blood count to decrease. The minimum level that a blood cell count drops is known as its nadir. Their education of bone marrow depression is related to the next:

The half-lives of the various cell lines differ. Anemia includes a later onset than neutropenia, irrespective of the drug administered, since the half-life of each cell line differs substantially.

The patient's age, health status, and nutritional status influence their education of myelosuppression. Older and debilitated patients are in and the higher chances in the myelotoxic results of chemotherapy. Patients having a compromised organ like the liver or kidney may tolerate chemotherapy poorly, because they organs play a vital function in the metabolic process and removal of these drugs.

Legal Disclaimer

Our website is not responsible for the information contained by this article. Articleinput.com is a free articles resource thus practically any visitor can submit an article. However if you notice any copyrighted material, please contact us and we will remove the article(s) in discussion right away.

Note: This article was sent to us by: Kyle Jordan at 07262011

Related Articles

1. What is combination chemotherapy how does it fight cancer
Based on the Gompertzian type of tumor growth, tumors in their initial phases grow rapidly simply because they have a superior growth fraction. Eventually, because the tumo...

2. Monoclonal antibodies and their role in chemotherapy
Many tumor cells express substances on the surface that are unique to tumor cells. These substances might be absent or found in small quantities in normal cells, making tum...

3. Cytokines, interferons and toxicities in chemotherapy
Cytokines Cytokines are naturally sourced substances released from stimulated cells of the immune system. There is a big part in mediating the game of the immune ...

4. Interleukins in chemotherapy and cancer treatment
Interleukins are regulatory substances made by lymphocytes and monocytes. They bind to focus on cells to deliver messages between leukocytes. Interleukins demonstrate an ar...

5. Patient and family education for biotherapy in cancer treatment
Patient and family teaching highly relevant to biotherapy is a vital function of the oncology nurse. Nurses are likely involved in obtaining informed consent before initiat...

6. Preventing chemotherapy errors for maximum patient safety
The chemotherapy administration process provides many opportunities for a number of medical professionals to make mistakes. The mistake may occur anywhere in the chemothera...

7. Routes of administration for chemotherapy in cancer patients
Following pretreatment assessment the RN may administer the chemotherapy. As advances in chemotherapy occur, the routes of administration still evolve. The option of drug r...

8. Minimizing contact with chemotherapeutic agents
Because of the healthcare personnel who handles antineoplastic agents, questions have arisen about possible long-term perils associated with contact with these drugs. The t...

9. Cutaneous toxicity issues during chemotherapy
Chemotherapy can induce alterations of the integumentary system. These could be generalized or localized reactions and therefore are often manifested on the skin, its appen...

10. Handling hyperpigmentation during chemotherapy
Hyperpigmentation The pathogenesis of altered pigmentation is poorly understood. It's thought to be as a result of deviation in the amount and distribution of mel...