Chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcoma
Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. These drugs target rapidly dividing cells throughout the whole body. This means that chemotherapy kills cancer cells but it can also damage healthy cells.
With most types of chemotherapy, the drugs travel through the blood to reach and destroy cancer cells all over the body, including cells that may have broken away from the primary tumour. This is described as systemic therapy.
Chemotherapy is sometimes used to treat soft tissue sarcoma. If you have chemotherapy, your healthcare team will use what they know about the cancer and about your health to plan the drugs, doses and schedules.
Chemotherapy may be the only treatment you have or it may be used along with other cancer treatments. You may have chemotherapy to:
- shrink a tumour before surgery (called neoadjuvant chemotherapy)
- destroy cancer cells left behind after surgery (called adjuvant chemotherapy) to reduce the risk that the cancer will come back (recur)
- relieve pain or control symptoms (called palliative chemotherapy)
Chemotherapy and radiation therapy may be given during the same time period to treat soft tissue sarcoma. This is called chemoradiation.
Chemotherapy drugs used for soft tissue sarcoma
The most common chemotherapy drug used to treat soft tissue sarcoma is doxorubicin. It’s usually given alone as the standard first-line chemotherapy. Sometimes the drug ifosfamide is used alone or in combination with doxorubicin.
If ifosfamide is used, then mesna is given at the same time. Mesna is a supportive drug used to protect the bladder from damage and lower the risk of urinary tract problems caused by ifosfamide.
Other chemotherapy drugs used for soft tissue sarcoma include:
- dacarbazine
- trabectedin
- eribulin
- paclitaxel
- epirubicin
- gemcitabine
- docetaxel
Most chemotherapy drugs used for soft tissue sarcoma are given
Side effects
Side effects of chemotherapy will depend mainly on the drug, the dose, how itʼs given and your overall health. Tell your healthcare team if you have side effects that you think are from chemotherapy. The sooner you tell them of any problems, the sooner they can suggest ways to help you deal with them.
Common side effects of chemotherapy drugs for soft tissue sarcoma include:
- nausea and vomiting
- loss of appetite
- sore mouth and throat
- hair loss
- fatigue
- low blood cell counts
- heart problems
- numbness or tingling in the fingers or toes
Find out more about chemotherapy
Find out more about chemotherapy and the side effects of chemotherapy. To make the decisions that are right for you, ask your healthcare team questions about chemotherapy.
Details on specific drugs change regularly. Find out more about sources of drug information and where to get details on specific drugs.
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