The purpose of treating cancer cells with chemotherapy is to prevent them from dividing, invading and metastasizing. Most chemotherapeutic agents exert their effect on cell multiplication: obviously since multiplication is a characteristic of many normal cells, chemotherapeutic agents will inevitably affect also normal cells and especially those with a rapid rate of multiplication and turnover such as those of the hair, intestinal mucosa, blood and bone marrow. This explains the common toxic effect of chemotherapy on the hair, the intestines (vomiting and diarrhoea), the blood (affecting blood counts) and bone marrow (affecting the immune system)…
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