What are the complications of chemotherapy or Targeted therapy?
Radiotherapy
Patient may experience short-term side effects such as nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty in swallowing, dry cough, skin redness, etc. during radiotherapy, but usually disappear in two to four weeks after completing the treatment. For long-term side effects such as skin discolouration, lung fibrosis, radiation pneumonitis, etc., may occur months or years after radiotherapy and may persist. These side effects are mostly mild and are tolerable to most patients.
Chemotherapy
While chemotherapeutic drugs can kill cancer cells, they also destroy normal cells in the body, resulting in side effects. Patients may experience nausea, vomiting, hair loss, mouth sores, anaemia, low resistance to bacterial infection, and internal hemorrhage, etc. Hence, your doctor will manage the entire course of chemotherapy with special caution.
Targeted Therapy
Targeted therapy may cause side effects such as skin rash, mouth sores or diarrhea. Please strictly follow medical advice in using this type of treatment.
Immunotherapy
In general, the most common immunotherapy-induced side effects may include but are not limited to coughing, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased appetite, fatigue, fever, muscle ache, hypothyroidism, itching and rash, etc. Though most of these side effects are mild compared with chemotherapy, there might be fatal immune-related side effects, and patients should seek immediate medical attention if they have severe symptoms.