(in-TEN-siv KEE-moh-THAYR-uh-pee)

Treatment that uses anticancer drugs given at high doses or over several months to try to cure cancer or cause a remission. Intensive chemotherapy is used to treat certain types of cancer, including leukemia and lymphoma, and may be given with other therapy before a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. It can lower the number of normal blood-forming cells in the bone marrow and can cause other severe side effects, so it is usually given in a hospital.