What are the side effects of chemotherapy for gastric cancer

Gastric cancer is an extremely common malignant tumor, ranking high in cancer morbidity and mortality, causing great pain to patients. Among the commonly used treatments for gastric cancer, chemotherapy is a relatively effective one, but while killing cancer cells, chemotherapy also brings some side effects, which are mainly manifested in the following aspects:

(1) Physical weakness and nutritional deficiency: Patients experience symptoms such as general fatigue, mental depression, sweating, and drowsiness.

(2) Decreased immune function and reduced resistance: Chemotherapy drugs can damage the patient's immune system, leading to immune deficiency or decline. Immune function indicators such as E-roset test, CH50, C3 complement, T cell subsets, NK cell activity, interleukin II, etc., can all decrease to varying degrees after chemotherapy compared to before chemotherapy. Most anti-tumor chemotherapy drugs have immunosuppressive effects.

(3) Bone marrow suppression and leukopenia: Most chemotherapy drugs can cause bone marrow suppression, which is manifested as a decrease in white blood cells and platelets, and even a decrease in red blood cells and hemoglobin.

(4) Loss of appetite and indigestion: decreased food intake, nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, etc. Many chemotherapy drugs can cause the above symptoms by irritating the gastrointestinal mucosa.

(5) Inflammatory reaction: Symptoms after chemotherapy for gastric cancer include fever, dizziness, headache, dry mouth, mouth ulcers, etc.

Chemotherapy is a relatively good method to kill tumors. Combining chemotherapy with traditional Chinese medicine can not only enhance the efficacy, but also reduce some of the side effects of chemotherapy and alleviate the patient's pain.