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Eli Medford

Professor Jizi

UWRT 1103

4 April 2018

Annotated Bibliography

“How Chemotherapy Drugs Work.” American Cancer Society, 15 Feb. 2016,

www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment

types/chemotherapy/how-chemotherapy-drugs-work.html.

I am researching how cancer patients can recover faster and suffer less side effects of

Chemotherapy. I began my research my finding out information on how chemo works and why it

is used. Cancer cells grow faster than normal cells, so it is best to try to kill the cells as fast as

possible, so they cannot grow and duplicate. Chemo drugs work best for this because they kill

the cell and damage the DNA, so they cannot duplicate and spread. The problem with this is

chemo drugs attack all growing cells so healthy cells and cancer cells are attacked.

Chemotherapy patients experience side effects because of the attack on their healthy cells. To

reduce the effects, we now have more specialized chemo drugs and experience to give the right

amounts of drugs at the right time to kill more cancer cells and less healthy cells. This

information has helped me move forward in my inquiry and provided solid background

information for what causes the side effects.

I found this research in an article on the American Cancer Society’s website. The article

was written by experienced medical writers and journalist on the work and research of the
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society’s very knowledgeable doctors and masters nurses. The society has a great reputation as a

non-profit organization that donates millions to cancer research. This is a solid source because

the society is a volunteer organization that is not selling anything. The article was posted for

education about chemotherapy, not to sell any healthcare products which also reinforces the

credibility. The article was also written only two years ago so it is current information and was

medically reviewed before it was published.

Hunter, J., et al. “A Relaxation Strategy for Reducing Chemotherapy Side-Effects.” Journal of

Psychosomatic Research, vol. 78, June 2015, pp. 603–603. Journal of Psychosomatic

Research.

As I continued looking for ways that chemo recipients could deal with the side effects I

found an article on psychiatric treatment. Psychiatric treatment can help reduce the effects of

nausea and vomiting. It has been found that sickness is somewhat mental because people have

heard stories and expect it to be much worse than it is. So, in turn they convince themselves they

are feeling more nauseous than they are. In this study patients received “Mindful relaxation” and

relaxing music before the chemo treatment to half of a group while the other half did not.

Mindful relaxation was given through 20 minutes of meditation using yoga, imagery, and

mindfulness practices. The patient’s nausea was checked halfway through the treatment and at

the end. The results of the treatment showed that the mindful relaxation and music did reduce

nausea in comparison to the group that received normal treatments.

The authors of this article are phycologists who work for psychiatric university’s or

hospitals and eight of the nine are medical doctors. They are credible because they work in the
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field and study psychiatric treatments. The article was also peer reviewed and published in 2015

so it is current information. Finally, the article and study was produced for educational purposes

to help with the effects of chemo.

Nelson, Brooke. “Diet for Cancer Patients: What to Eat During Chemo.” Reader's Digest,

Reader's Digest, 26 Feb. 2018, www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/diet-for-cancer-

patients/.

In the final step of my inquiry I have found certain foods that help reduce the effects of

chemo and encourage cell growth. The article recommends that if patients are experiencing dry

mouth and having difficulties swallowing foods try coating them in gravies or sauces. To deal

with diarrhea foods such as rice, bananas, toast, and cooked apples can help. Patients dealing

with constipation should eat fatty foods, whole grains, and raw fruits. Most patients also deal

with appetite loss and it can be reduced by eating several small meals instead of three large

meals. Ginger candy, lemon drops, and flat ginger ale can help ease nausea. To keep from getting

sick onions and garlic can help build your immune system. Finally, carrots keep the body from

fighting chemo and can make the treatments more effective.

I gathered this information from an article on readers digest. The author has no medical

experience, but she based the information of doctors and cancer institutes. I would say the writer

is qualified however because the article is based only on food and not on medical practices that

could hurt readers. Also, in this article the author is only trying to educate and not to sell

anything. The article was also produced this year so it is very current and was published for

public education.
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Seeker. What Does Chemotherapy Actually Do To Your Body? What Does Chemotherapy

Actually Do To Your Body?, 2016, www.seeker.com/what-does-chemotherapy-actually-

do-to-your-body-1792765039.html.

After I found specific side effects of chemo I began searching for different ways that

these symptoms can be reduced. In this video I learned that with new medicines and using chemo

in different ways can reduce the side effects drastically. For example, research shows that

antidepressants and exercise can help with fatigue as they help your metabolism and your body’s

natural cycles. Also, there are new methods of treating cancer without chemo at the molecular

level. These drugs don’t have near as many side effects because they can identify characteristics

of cancer cells and only attack those. Finally, with personalized cancer treatments based on the

type of cancer and on patient to patient basis can be more effective with less side effects.

I gathered this information from a video published by Seeker. Seeker is a website that

was originally a subdivision of Discovery Digital Networks and now owned by Group nine

media. Seeker was established in 2015 for education in science and technology. This video was

produced on the work of doctors and researchers such as Dr. George Demetri who works at the

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Both owners of seeker are media outlets and have no medical

affiliations or reason to give false information or to sell cancer drugs. The author was qualified to

write on this subject as they used the work of doctors and was written for educational purposes.

Finally, the video was published in 2016 so it is current information.

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“Side Effects of Chemotherapy.” Cancer.Net, American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO),

3 Nov. 2017, www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/how-cancer-

treated/chemotherapy/side-effects-chemotherapy.

I continued my inquiry by finding what side effects cancer patients most commonly

experience and why these side effects are so common. As I mentioned before chemo works by

attacking “Active” cells such as cancer cells. The problem is the body also has some cells that

are growing and dividing and can also be attacked. There are living cells in the blood, hair,

mouth, and digestive system. Low platelets as well as red and white blood cells are common with

chemo recipients. It is due to problems in the bone marrow and how the chemo effects the

creation of new blood cells. Most Chemo patients are bald due to the attack on growing hair

cells. Mouth sores are also very common side effects of chemo and due to the cells in mouth

being attacked. Finally, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and general stomach pain is common due

to the attack on cells in the digestive system. A side effect that most all patients experience is

fatigue due to the general effects of chemotherapy. This information helped me move forward in

my inquiry by finding what common side effects need to be treated.

I gathered this information from an article on “cancer.net” website. This website was

produced by the ASCO to provide information for cancer patients that is doctor approved. ASCO

stands for “American Society of Clinical Oncology” and is the world’s leading organization for

physicians and oncologist that provide for cancer patients. The authors are very qualified to write

on this subject as they are doctors that work with cancer patients. The site is for educational uses

for the public and nothing is trying to be sold. The site provides objective information backed up

by doctors. The publish date for this article is the third of November 2017 and the cite has been

up since 2005, so it is very current information. The cite is well designed, easy to use, and works
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well. Lastly the cite is reviewed and approved by an editorial board of over 150 people in the

medical field of cancer care.