Systemic chemotherapy for urothelial transitional cell carcinoma: an overview of toxicity

Cancer therapies are various modes of treatment, such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy that are administered to cancer patients.
However, cancer treatments can pose several challenges, as therapies used to kill cancer cells are generally also toxic to normal cells. Moreover, cancer cells mutate rapidly and can develop resistance to chemical agents or radiation therapy. Besides, all types of cancer cells may not respond to the same therapy. Some cancer cells respond to one...

When toxic substances penetrate the human body, they disseminate to various tissues, undergoing metabolic changes. This process yields reactive metabolites that may covalently bind with specific target molecules, resulting in toxicity.
Toxicity falls into two primary categories: local and systemic.
Local toxicity appears at the exposure site, such as protein denaturation caused by caustic substances.
In contrast, systemic toxicity requires the toxic agent's absorption and distribution,...

5-HT3 receptor antagonists, such as dolasetron, granisetron (Kytril), ondansetron (Zofran), and palonosetron (Axoli), are crucial in managing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) and postoperative nausea. These drugs selectively block 5-HT3 receptors in the visceral vagal and spinal afferent nerves, chemoreceptor trigger zone, and the vomiting center. They have a rapid onset of action and can be given as a single dose before chemotherapy. Ondansetron and granisetron, in particular,...

Drug toxicity quantifies the harm a compound causes to an organism, varying by dose and potentially impacting whole systems or specific organs like the liver. Toxic reactions may arise from venomous insect or spider bites, with effects ranging from mild symptoms to severe outcomes such as brain damage or death. Common forms of acute poisoning include ethanol intoxication and overdose of pain or fever medications, with substances like GHB and heroin being particularly lethal at doses close to...

Drug toxicities can be stratified into pharmacological, pathological, or genotoxic based on their mechanisms. The incidence and severity of these toxicities generally increase with the drug's concentration in the body and exposure time.Pharmacological toxicity is evident when the therapeutic effects of drugs overshoot into adverse reactions in a predictable, dose-dependent manner. Central nervous system (CNS) depression from barbiturates is a classic example, with effects escalating from...

Renal calculi, commonly termed kidney stones, are crystalline solid masses that form in the kidneys but can occur at any point within the urinary system, encompassing the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.The pathophysiology of renal stones involves several key factors: supersaturation of the urine with stone-forming constituents, changes in urine pH, a decrease in urine volume, and the presence of substances that promote or inhibit stone formation.Supersaturation of Urine: This is the...