FEC
Meaning of FEC: FEC is a chemotherapy combination of three drugs given together for breast cancer, including disease that has spread or returned.
Definition of FEC
FEC is an abbreviation for a chemotherapy combination made up of three drugs, fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide, given together according to a specific schedule. It is used in the treatment of breast cancer, including both earlier stage disease treated alongside surgery and breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body or returned after previous treatment.
Each drug in the FEC combination works somewhat differently to interfere with the growth of cancer cells, and combining them is intended to attack cancer cells through more than one mechanism at once, an approach commonly used in chemotherapy regimens for various cancers.
Like other chemotherapy combinations, FEC can affect rapidly dividing normal cells in addition to cancer cells, and the specific pattern and severity of side effects experienced can depend on the doses used and a person's individual response to the combination.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The patient completed several cycles of FEC as part of treatment for breast cancer.
Good to know
FEC refers to a specific three drug combination rather than a single medication, so the name itself does not describe how any one of its component drugs works individually.