Appropriateness
Low dose chemotherapy is given over a longer time than standard chemotherapy because its purpose is not necessarily to kill and destroy all cancer cells and cure the cancer, like standard chemotherapy. It is designed to slow or prevent the growth of cancer while allowing patients to maintain a better quality of life than standard chemotherapy. Doctors suggest that continuous oral low dose chemotherapy medications will allow cancer to become more like a chronic and manageable disease, similar to heart disease, in which patients can live a longer and relatively normal life.
Nausea
Although low dose chemotherapy tends to produce less nausea and vomiting than standard chemotherapy medications, nausea is a potential side effect of low dose chemotherapy. This side effect is likely to become exacerbated the longer the low dose chemotherapy is administered, as blood cells in the digestive track are affected by the chemotherapy agent.
Low Blood Cell Count
A lowered blood cell count is another potential side effect of chemotherapy, although again this side effect is less pronounced than the low cell counts associated with standard chemotherapy. Low blood cell counts can cause fatigue and make patients more susceptible to infection.
Moderate Hair Loss
Because of the effect of chemotherapy on rapidly dividing cells, such as hair follicles, some hair loss is associated with low dose chemotherapy. However, this hair loss was described by a Journal of Clinical Oncology Study as "moderate" hair loss.
Fewer Side Effects
With standard high doses of chemotherapy, the body needs time to recover between chemotherapy treatments because of the detrimental side effects high doses of chemotherapy have on the body. In this time between treatments, tumors might actually begin to thrive or grow. The benefits of a low, continual dose of chemotherapy with few side effects is a consistent dose of cancer fighting medicines.
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