chemotherapy deaths

Do people die from acutual chemo treatments and not the cancer itself. Are there any medical reasons a person should not receive chemo?

[CCF-RN,MSN-JS]

Dear niki, Chemotherapy is the treatment of a medical condition using chemicals.  The basic idea of chemotherapy in cancer treatment is to rid the body of faster growing cancer cells. While doing this, the drug also has an effect on the faster growing normal cells in our bodies.  These include; the hair, the lining of our mouth, or the cells in the bone marrow that produce white blood cells (which help to fight infection), red blood cells (which carry oxygen through our blood), and platelets (which help to clot the blood and stop bleeding).  The chemotherapy is timed to allow the bodies normal cells time to recover between treatments.

Each chemotherapy drug has its own particular set of side effects, when combining the drugs the goal is to enhance the treatment effect and not enhance a particular side effect.  Side effects may vary in severity depending on the dose of the medications.  Most side effects are temporary.

Yes it is possible for a person to die from the side effects of chemotherapy.  This is why the decision whether to receive chemotherapy or not is made after careful review of the risks and benefits of the therapy in relation to a person