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Why was oral chemotherapy developed?
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To allow patients the freedom to take their treatment at home.
One of
the aims of any
chemotherapy treatment is to improve patients'
quality of life, and by reducing the time that needs to be spent in
hospital, patients have more time to themselves or to spend with friends and
family as they wish.
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To offer patients a convenient treatment method that can be taken in a tablet
or capsule form.
Oral chemotherapy was developed as a more convenient method of
treatment for patients, without the need for cumbersome and uncomfortable
injection devices. For example, capecitabine is used for the treatment of
colorectal cancer as an alternative to the
intravenous form of
5-FU and oral cyclophosphamide is often used in breast cancer as an
alternative to the intravenous form of the drug.
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As a treatment option for patients who have resisted other chemotherapies. In
some cases, despite treatment, a person's cancer does not shrink but continues
to spread. In these circumstances, some types of oral chemotherapy, for
example capecitabine for the treatment of advanced breast cancer, or imatinib
for the treatment ofÂ
chronic myeloid leukaemia, can be effective when other treatments have
failed.
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