Read article Chemotherapy drugs for mouth cancer
This page is about chemotherapy drugs used to treat mouth and oropharyngeal cancer. You can find information about
Chemotherapy drugs for mouth cancer
It is most common to have 2 or more chemotherapy drugs together to treat cancer. You may hear this called combination chemotherapy.
Having chemotherapy
You have the chemotherapy drugs through a drip (intravenous infusion) into your arm or central line, usually once every 3 or 4 weeks. Each 3 or 4 week period is known as one cycle of treatment. You will probably have between 2 and 3 cycles to begin with. If the treatment is working and you are not having too many side effects you may go on to have up to 6 cycles.
Your own doctor will decide the exact amount of treatment you have. So the complete chemotherapy course can take 6 months or more.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the treating mouth cancer section.
You usually have chemotherapy as cycles of treatment. You have the drugs through a drip (intravenous infusion) into your arm or central line, usually once every 3 or 4 weeks. Each 3 or 4 week period is known as one cycle of treatment. You will probably have 2 or 3 cycles to begin with. If the treatment is helping, you might go on to have up to 6 cycles altogether. So the complete chemotherapy course can take 6 months or more.
Your own doctor will decide the exact number of treatments you have. It is most common to have 2 or more chemotherapy drugs together to treat cancer. You may hear this called combination chemotherapy. Using 2 or more drugs together is often more effective than using one drug.
Mouth and oropharyngeal cancers are often treated with 2 common chemotherapy drugs
Other drugs used less often include
Doctors are testing a combination of 3 newer chemotherapy drugs. These drugs are used in clinical trials for mouth and oropharyngeal cancers that have come back since they were first treated. These drugs are
These links take you to information about the specific side effects of each drug.
If you are having chemotherapy and radiotherapy at the same time (known as chemoradiation or synchronous treatment), you may have one of the following drugs
There is information about the side effects of chemoradiation on the next page in this section.
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