A Comparison Between Targeted Therapy And Chemotherapy

People who have been diagnosed with cancer may be asked to undergo chemotherapy or targeted therapy, both of which are extensively used to treat cancer. Read this guide to understand the difference between the two, how they compare, and which has more of an impact on the diagnosed individual.

What Is Chemotherapy?

Chemotherapy is a type of treatment that makes use of drugs to kill cancerous cells in the body. The treatment targets cells at various phases of the cell life cycle. The only downside is that this treatment cannot differentiate between cancerous and healthy cells, so normal cells may also get damaged along with cancerous cells. However, most normal cells will recover over a period of time, but cancer cells don’t because they are mutated.

What Is Targeted Therapy?

Targeted therapy is a type of cancer treatment that targets specific cancer cells without harming normal cells. This is different from chemotherapy, which targets fast-growing cells in general and can destroy healthy cells as well. Targeted therapies use drugs that target specific proteins or enzymes in the cancer cells to block the messages that cause the cancer cells to grow, while regular chemotherapy also damages fast-growing cells outside of the tumor.

What Is the Difference Between the Two Cancer Treatments?

Technically, targeted therapy is a form of chemotherapy, but there are a number of differences between both treatment methods.

Traditional chemotherapy can damage healthy cells in addition to cancerous cells. In comparison, targeted therapy destroys cancer cells, but leaves healthy cells intact.

Chemotherapy only kills cancer cells that exist at present in the body.

Targeted therapy can block cancerous cells from duplicating themselves.

What Are the Side Effects of Targeted Therapy and Chemotherapy?

Some of the common side effects of chemotherapy include fatigue, hair loss, easy bruising, low red blood cell counts, infection, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, changes in your appetite, skin and nail changes, weight changes, urine and bladder problems, and more.

The side effects of targeted therapies include sensitivity to sunlight, rashes, dry skin, changes in how your skin feels, dry skin, itching, swollen, painful sores around the toenails and fingernails, etc.