Q. What is the difference between chemotherapy and immunotherapy?

Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are two treatments used for a variety of cancers, with each having its own unique advantages and disadvantages.

Chemotherapy is the use of chemical drugs to kill cancer cells. It works by attacking rapidly dividing cells, which can include both cancerous and healthy cells. As a result, patients undergoing chemotherapy often suffer from side effects such as hair loss, nausea, fatigue, increased susceptibility to infection or changes in their taste or smell sensations. Additionally it is difficult to determine how much of the drug will actually reach the tumor due to absorption issues.

Immunotherapy is an emerging type of treatment that uses monoclonal antibodies or other bioengineered molecules that activate immune responses against cancer cells without harming normal tissue. While some types of immunotherapies target one specific type of cancer cell at a time (monoclonal antibodies), newer forms can target multiple types simultaneously (checkpoint inhibitors). The benefit from immunotherapy treatment comes from its ability to recognize even small differences between tumor cells and normal healthy ones during development, allowing it to be highly effective in targeting only the malignant cells while leaving healthy tissue unharmed. Furthermore there are fewer systemic side effects associated with this form of therapy compared with chemotherapy as most don’t require taking drugs orally nor do they interfere with regular metabolic processes like chemotherapy does; however there may still be some localized irritation at injection sites or around tumors dependent upon specific treatments chosen for an individual patient's needs.

Another key difference between these two treatments is that chemo targets all actively replicating cells regardless if they are mutated or not while immunotherapies only attack mutated/cancerous cells meaning it cannot eliminate dormant tumors whereas chemo offers more promise in being able to do so making it more useful particularly when treating cancers where limited visibility makes monitoring progress hard such as pancreatic cancer or mesothelioma among others (in such cases using radio-isotopes further boost the effectiveness).

Both forms play essential roles in today's medical armamentarium but depending on what kind of tumor and current state it’s in selecting one over another could make all the difference produced by yielding greater efficacy rate than another might have been unable provide depending upon circumstances experienced by each unique set case occurring out there throughout world today requiring personalized attention provided necessary proper care offered every single time anyone finds themselves need receiving going through whole ordeal amidst struggle suffering course journey laid out ahead them courageously facing fight destiny hoping eventual victory waiting bring closure resolution lasting ever come last long done gone truly must remembered forever onwards shared remembered cherished everyone else times call order provides real sense peace security safety afterwards too far good continue coming back everything now then future always deliver countless superb brilliant wonderful miracles doing saving lives miracles work surrounding way!