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Article: Chinese medicine & bone marrow suppression. (Chinese Medicine Update).
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
- Article date:
- June 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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All the various cells of the immune system are first produced in the bone marrow. Because most chemotherapeutic agents used in the treatment of cancer only kill cells which are dividing and cell division is extremely active in the bone marrow, most of this class of Western drugs also kill the dividing cells of the bone marrow as well. This leads to bone marrow suppression, neutropenia, a reduction in cell-mediated immunity. In fact, bone marrow suppression is one of the primary toxicities of chemotherapy. When chemotherapy results in bone marrow suppression in cancer patients, the choices are reducing the dose of the chemotherapy (and thus also reducing its effectiveness ...