chemotherapeutic agent

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia.

Related to chemotherapeutic agent: chemotherapy

chemotherapeutic agent

[-ther′əpyo̅o̅′tik]

any chemical used to treat cancer. It is usually used to refer to antineoplastic drugs.

chemotherapeutic agent

An agent used to treat cancer administered in regimens of one or more cycles, combining two or more agents over a period of days to weeks. Such agents are toxic to cells with high proliferative rates—e.g., to the cancer itself, but also to the GI tract (causing nausea and vomiting), bone marrow (causing various cytopenias) and hair (resulting in baldness).

Examples
Busulphan, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, MTX, daunorubicin, doxorubicin, melphalan, vincristine, vinblastine, chlorambucil.

chemotherapeutic agent

An agent used to treat CA, administered in 'regimens'-one or more 'cycles' that combine 3 or more agents over wks; CAs are toxic to any cell with a high rate of proliferation–the CA itself, the GI tract–causing N&V, BM–cytopenias, and hair—alopecia Examples Busulphan, cisplatin, cyclophosphamide, MTX, daunorubicin, doxorubicin, melphalan, vincristine, vinblastine, chlorambucil. See Immunosuppressive agents.

che·mo·ther·a·peu·tic a·gent

(kēmō-thār-ă-pyūtik ājĕnt)

Chemical that is used for therapeutic reasons.

References in periodicals archive ?

1) The cells overexpressing P-gp pumps indeed manage to survive the initial chemotherapy, possibly to form a new clonal population of cancer cells, from now on refractory to most chemotherapeutic agents (See Figure 3).

Natural Chemotherapy Active Support Technology (CAST)

Local chemotherapeutic agents offer an additional mode of therapy and should be used on a case-to-case basis, not necessarily as an initial treatment.

Local chemotherapeutics as an adjunct to scaling and root planing

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute and six cancer hospitals in the United States and Italy report that the risk of bone cancer among survivors of a variety of childhood cancers rises sharply with increasing exposure to radiation or certain chemotherapeutic agents, reaching 40-fold at some of the highest doses used.