Older people discover cancer and need chemotherapy? Doctor: There may be 4 difficulties, let's take a look!

The word "chemotherapy" must have been heard in daily life. This is one of the common methods of clinical treatment of cancer. It refers to the use of chemical drugs to kill potential metastatic cancer cells in the body and reduce the size of the cancer. Surgery creates opportunities.

　　It can be used not only for conservative treatment of cancer, but also for preoperative and postoperative treatment. It is one of the indispensable treatment methods for cancer.

　　Moreover, different from local treatment methods such as surgery and radiotherapy, whether chemical drugs are administered in the body cavity, orally or in other ways , they can travel to most organs and tissues of the body along with the blood circulation . That is to say, chemotherapy is a systemic treatment method, and has irreplaceable therapeutic effects on systemic canceration and metastatic cancer.

　　However, although chemotherapy is effective, it inevitably has many side effects. Especially for elderly cancer patients, the body is already aging gradually, and there is an irreversible gradual decline in organ function. Some elderly people may also have other basic diseases. If you choose chemotherapy as a treatment, there may be many difficulties, such as the following four that cannot be ignored:

1. Myelosuppression

　　This is the most common toxic reaction of most chemotherapy drugs. After they enter the patient's body, they can cause different degrees of myelosuppression, that is, the activity of blood cells in the patient's bone marrow decreases.

　　You must know that the red blood cells and white blood cells in the bloodstream are actually derived from stem cells in the bone marrow. The blood cells in the bloodstream have a short lifespan and often need to be replenished continuously. Once bone marrow suppression occurs , the patient will have symptoms of rapid decrease in platelets and granulocytes ;

2. Influence on the digestive tract

　　After chemotherapy drugs are administered, patients often experience different degrees of gastrointestinal side effects, and the common symptoms are loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting. In severe cases, the patient may not even be able to drink water normally .

　　You must know that the body of the elderly is relatively fragile. During the treatment process, various nutrients need to be supplemented to maintain the body's operation and strengthen the immune system. Once there is a disorder in the diet, its immune function will become worse and worse , which will affect the next chemotherapy, or even accelerate the development of the disease;

3. Vascular

　　Human aging is not only reflected in the white hair and skin, but also the subcutaneous tissue of patients is gradually sparse, the elasticity and toughness of blood vessels are further reduced, and the fragility of blood vessels increases. Moreover, the elderly are relatively weak and thin, and the peripheral blood vessels lack filling degree, which is prone to edema.

　　In this case, if patients take intravenous administration, the success rate of venipuncture is often relatively low , and multiple complications such as phlebitis, thrombophlebitis , and extravasation are prone to occur ;

4. Drug-induced hypotension

　　Certain chemotherapeutic drugs may inhibit adrenal cortex function, resulting in a rapid decrease in aldosterone and plasma cortisol levels in patients . At the same time, after the patient has nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite and other problems, it will also cause body fluid loss and blood volume drop .

　　Affected by the weakening of arterial wall elasticity, increased peripheral vascular resistance, and reduced cardiac blood transfusion , patients may develop drug-induced hypotension and even have a sudden risk of cardiovascular disease.

　　In addition to the above four points, elderly cancer patients are often prone to anxiety, fear and pessimism, and even choose to give up treatment and not cooperate with doctors in order not to implicate their family members, which will also reduce the overall control effect of cancer and make chemotherapy itself lost. significance. However, this does not mean that the elderly cannot choose chemotherapy to control the progression of the disease.

　　In fact, how to treat cancer and how to arrange the course of treatment need to be considered in combination with many aspects, including the patient's specific condition, age, physical fitness, economic ability and other aspects. Therefore, after being diagnosed with the disease, what everyone should do is not to worry or panic, but to actively follow the doctor's advice and arrangements.