title: "Crab" care and cancer chemotherapy.
abstract: The letters CRAB indicate that there are four broad uses of chemotherapy in treating solid tumours: (i) curative, which is always the aim but as yet can rarely be reliably achieved with chemotherapy alone; (ii) relieving chemotherapy for widespread or incurable disease; (iii) adjuvant care to prevent peripheral occult disease developing after standard surgery or radiotherapy; and (iv) basal chemotherapy, to reduce the size, viability and especially the peripheral extent of large, localized tumour masses in preparation for definitive treatment usually by radiotherapy and/or extirpative surgery.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010166:Palliative Care; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D011300:Preoperative Care
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001761:Bleomycin; D008727:Methotrexate