| |
nitrogen mustards
a group of toxic, blistering alkylating agents that are cell cycle phase nonspecific; it includes nitrogen mustard itself (mechlorethamine hydrochloride), chlorambucil, cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, and melphalan. Some have been used as antineoplastic agents in certain forms of cancer; they do not cure these conditions, but ease their effects by destroying mitotic cells (those
newly formed by division), which affects malignant tissue in its early stage of development and leaves normal tissue unaffected.
They are especially useful in treatment of leukemia, in which they reduce the leukocyte count, and in cases in which the malignant
disease is widespread throughout the body and therefore cannot be effectively treated locally by surgery or radiotherapy.
Copyright 2007. An Elsevier publication. All rights reserved.
Click here for important legal information about Dorland's Medical Dictionary.
|
