In the UK, cancer accounted for 30% of all deaths registered in 2011, with a rate of 2083 deaths per million population for males and 1513 deaths per million population for females. At some point in their journey, many of these patients will receive treatment with chemotherapy. As the survival rates for cancer increase, GPs will see increased numbers of patients suffering from long term side effects of treatment, some of which are currently unknown. There are hundreds of different chemotherapy agents and agents are administered in many different combinations. Although it would be impossible to know the mechanism of action and side effect profile of each one, GPs need to be aware of the general principles of chemotherapy treatment, the potentially dangerous side effects and how to manage them. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of chemotherapy treatment, the common side effects, the management of these and the role of the GP in relation to the care given by the oncology team.
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