Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells and may be taken orally, intravenously or by injection. However, this systemic treatment can also damage normal cells.
Kidney cancer is resistant to many chemotherapy drugs. In fact, less than 10 percent of patients respond to traditional chemotherapy. Consequently, standard chemotherapy is not usually used. Only a handful of the more than 50 different chemotherapy agents available may work on RCC. These drugs include 5-FU, vinblastine, FUDR, mitomycin and hydroxyurea.
Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, rash, chills, diarrhea and allergic reactions. The severity of these effects varies from patient to patient and may last for a few hours to a few days.
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