What to Know About Chemotherapy for Brain Tumors

Chemotherapy uses anticancer drugs to kill cancer cells. The drugs are made to attack and kill cells that divide rapidly. Cancer cells divide rapidly, as do some normal cells. Chemotherapy can affect those rapidly dividing normal cells in the body. Normal cells may be affected based on these factors.

• Dose and types of drugs used

• The person getting the drugs

The Types of Drugs Used for Brain Tumors

Temodar (temozolomide) is the chemotherapy drug that doctors prescribe most often for brain tumors. Your doctor may also prescribe these chemotherapy drugs.

• BCNU, Bischloronitrosourea, BiCNU (carmustine)

• Camptosar, CPT-11 (irinotecan)

• CCNU, Bischloronitrosourea (lomustine)

• Matulane, N-Methylhydrazine (procarbazine)

• Oncovin, VCR (vincristine)

• Paraplatin, CBDCA (carboplatin)

• Cis-diamminedichloroplatinum, CDDP, Platinol (cisplatin)

Sometimes doctors combine different chemotherapy drugs. These combinations are named using the first letter of each of the drugs. In the combination PCV, for instance, these drugs are taken together.

• Matulane (procarbazine)

• CCNU (lomustine)

• Oncovin (vincristine)

How You Take Chemotherapy

Doctors usually give chemotherapy in cycles. That means you take chemotherapy drugs for a certain amount of time. Then you have time off to recover from the treatment. This pattern of treatment and recovery will continue over the course of the chemotherapy. You may have chemotherapy treatment in one of these places.

• An outpatient part of the hospital

• A doctor’s office

• A chemotherapy clinic

• Your own home