Cancer as a disease is becoming more widespread, despite efforts to fight and contain it. And for every treatment that a patient may receive, there is usually a side effect. The key is understanding the treatments that are being offered, what they do, and what effects they may have on certain parts of the patient's body. This is true of treatments like chemotherapy, and their effect on organs like the spleen.
Chemotherapy
Generally speaking, chemotherapy is a catch all category of treatment. Chemotherapy refers to the use of any chemical agent, which is used to stop cancer cells from growing. Chemotherapy, when properly managed, can be used to destroy cancer cells both at the source of the cancer, and at sections which are further away, making it a systemic treatment.
The Spleen
The spleen is a soft, purple organ found in the upper left region of the abdomen, behind the stomach and under the diaphragm. The spleen contains many vessels that carry and circulate fluids in your body. The spleen is intricately tied to both the blood and the lymph of a body, and it can be negatively affected by infection, malignancies, parasites, and liver disease.
Cells
What chemotherapy does is attempt to find drugs, or combinations of drugs, that will destroy cancer cells. Cancer cells are, more or less, simply cells that reproduce out of control. The problem is that many medications, while they might target cancer cells, may also target healthy cells as well. It's the destruction of these healthy cells which can lead to many side effects.
Infection
One of the side effects of chemotherapy that can affect the spleen is the destruction of red and white blood cells. This lowers the immune system, and may then leave the body open for infection. The spleen, being a part of the blood flow, is negatively affected by infection, and by the lack of white blood cells created by some chemotherapy.
Control
As the side effects of chemotherapy have become better understood by the medical community, more control over them has become common. Doctors are aware of the chemical's effect on the blood, and thus the effects that blood has on vascular organs like the spleen. Since chemotherapy is often different for every patient, controlling these side effects is also an individualized process.
Tags: side effects, affected infection, blood cells, cancer cells, cancer cells, destroy cancer