The effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy: it can make the mass smaller and kill the invisible metastatic cells at an early stage, which is conducive to subsequent treatments such as surgery and radiotherapy.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy refers to systemic chemotherapy before local radiotherapy or surgery, which can reduce the size of the tumor and kill the invisible metastatic cells, and then cure the tumor through surgery or radiotherapy at a later stage.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is mainly used for certain patients with intermediate stage tumors. Early stage tumors can usually be eradicated through local treatment, while advanced tumors are usually difficult to be cured, and the effect of neoadjuvant chemotherapy is not significant. There are successful cases after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, bone and soft tissue sarcoma, rectal cancer, bladder cancer, breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy will cause certain damages to the human body, such as bone marrow suppression caused by chemotherapeutic drugs, gastrointestinal tract reaction, liver and kidney function damage rash, hair loss, bleeding and so on. There are also some patients with unsatisfactory results after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the tumor increases or the patient’s physical condition decreases, therefore, it is recommended that the patient go to a regular hospital specialist for a comprehensive assessment of the condition before proceeding with this treatment.