Is mixing alcohol and chemo unsafe?
I have a friend who is going through chemotherapy for stage lV ovarian cancer and she is getting drunk on more than one occasion. Is it bad to mix alcohol and chemo?
Expert Answer
It's not a great idea for cancer patients to drink heavily and it's really not a good idea while having chemotherapy.
Alcohol can interfere with the liver's ability to metabolize (process) the chemotherapy drugs and thus can cause increased damage to the body. This effect can be magnified if the cancer is already affecting the liver either as a cancer of the liver or a cancer that has metastasized to the liver from someplace else.
If the chemotherapy drug is one that itself causes damage to the liver, then added to the liver damage from the heavy drinking, she could be great increasing her risk of liver failure which could, if severe enough, lead to death