Chemotherapy’s Toughest Side Effect May Soon Be a Thing of the Past

Around a million people are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year and must undergo chemotherapy, which wreaks havoc on the body.

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Researchers at Michigan State University are developing a treatment that could soon put an end to one of chemotherapy's toughest side effects.

If you know anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, you know how scary and stressful it can be for the patient, their friends, and their family.

After a diagnosis, patients go through physical exams and tests, and sometimes require chemotherapy.

What Is Chemotherapy

I've heard of Chemotherapy, but didn't know how it actually worked.

After I had a family member need chemo treatments I learned a lot.

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Chemotherapy, or "chemo," is a type of medicine used to treat cancer.

It works by using powerful drugs to kill cancer cells, which tend to grow and divide way faster than healthy cells.

Because these drugs travel throughout the body, they can also affect some healthy cells that grow quickly, like those in your hair and mouth, which is why side effects like hair loss and mouth sores can happen.

Michigan State Scientists Develop Gel That Could End Chemo Hair Loss

Bryan Smith, an associate professor in the College of Engineering and with MSU’s Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, has developed a gel the consistency of shampoo that he hopes will help protect patients’ hair throughout treatment.

The gel is applied to a patient’s scalp before chemotherapy and remains there as long as the drugs are in their system, or until they are ready to easily wash it off.

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This could be such a huge breakthrough.

The only thing stopping it from going any farther is the need for major funding.

Smith and his team hope to obtain federal and/or venture funding to move this
research forward into clinical trials and, eventually, to human patients.

“The research has the potential to help many people, All the individual components are well-established, safe materials, but we can’t move forward with follow-up studies and clinical trials on humans without the support of substantial funding.”

I hope they're able to get the funding because this could help so many people that are battling cancer.