stoydc Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 My dad has been dx with stage IV adenocarcinoma of the lung. It is confined to his lungs so far - he has a tennis ball sized tumor in his upper left lung and small tumors in his right lung and lower left lobes. If he does do chemo, the md recommended cisplantin and gemcitabine. Has anyone had any experience with this regime and what side effects did you experience? Are there other regimes that are less toxic but still have promising results? Thanks for any input. shirley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 You could ask about carboplatin instead of the cisplatin. It is supposed to be more tolerable but (a little less effective but not much) I have read that about 30-50% respond to cisplatin-gemcitabine You can do a search on the web for cisplatin gemcitabine and nsclc and you will get a lot of sites. Sometimes navelbine is used with older patients http://www.lungcanceronline.org/treatme ... abine.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Another thought is that if it is confined to the lungs you might be able to check out RFA and make sure the cancer type isn't BAC. BAC is a subset of adenocarcinoma that *usually* stays in the lungs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 I just read that your newer posts and saw that a doc considered BAC. I think Fay/rich are good resources for BAC. Tiny on this board has it also. There is a doctor that has been using tarceva/herceptin for bac and I think the results have been good. I think this is from USC or UC(San Diego) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoydc Posted January 30, 2004 Author Share Posted January 30, 2004 Thanks John, Looks like the Kaiser Md will let us try Iressa fora few months to see if cancer will respond. He didn't seem very optimistic, but after our second opinion from UCD (Dr. Angela Davies) called him directly, he sounded like he would let us try. We have one more second opinion with another Kaiser MD. But I think my dad wants to try Iressa for sure. I've already e-mailed Rich, and have read some of Faye's posts. This sure is a great site and thanks again for all the information and websites. shirley Our second opinion recommended carboplatin too instead of cisplatin - but since she thought it was BAC, she recommended we go straight to Iressa since BAC is not very responsive to standard chemo. It's nice when the information we hear is validated by these posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chani Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 What is Iressa I'll look it up on the internet too... Thanks, Chani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoydc Posted February 1, 2004 Author Share Posted February 1, 2004 Chani, Iressa/ Gefitinib is a new chemo drug - that is taken orally once a day. It has less side effects compared to other drugs. . . i.e. the main side effects are a rash/acne and diarrhea. It is FDA approved as a third line agent against nsclc - first line agent would be a platinum with another drug, second line agent is taxotere ( I think) and the Iressa is third line. Apparently there have been a few studies that show that BAC is not very responsive to regular chemo but more responsive to IRessa. We shall see. Hope this helps. shirley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chani Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Thanks Shirley..... Any information helps....when it comes to cancer, anything that I learn about, and research about, that may help, does help.... Chani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna G Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Shirley have you been to ...................Donna G http://chemocare.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chani Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 Hi Donna G, I like this webstie...chemocare. Thanks for posting it. Chani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2004 Share Posted February 1, 2004 http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/news/BAC_therapy.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoydc Posted February 1, 2004 Author Share Posted February 1, 2004 Donna and Chani, Thanks for telling me about Cancercare. The site is really informative and I'll be sure to tell my dad about it. Thanks. shirley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoydc Posted February 1, 2004 Author Share Posted February 1, 2004 Opps. I meant chemocare.com shirley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candee Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 I did have cisplatin and gemzar when taking chemo. The side effects I had were fatigue, change in taste buds (I took zinc to help with that) and some neuropathy that went away a while after I stopped chemo. But you know everyone reacts differently to chemo drugs. This doublet is state of the art and worth a try. If it does sit well, you can change. Hope this helps some! Candee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chani Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 Candee and anyone else.... My dad is on Parapaltin (carboplantin) and Taxol (paclitaxel.) He also just recieved the Nulasta long lasting WBC booster. Three days after his chemo and this shot he got so sick that my mother stayed up to watch over him because he was throwing up so much. Is there any partucular drug that helped most with your feeling sick or getting sick. This was his third chemo treatment. He has done pretty well so far so he's thinking it could be the side affects from the Nulasta. I'm going to call an 800 number for Nulasta and ask them what side affects to expect. I thought I'd do this for my dad because he just got a new computer and is having difficulty getting in to learning it. I realize now with my dad and my sister when talking to them....one hour they feel great the next they don't. If they don't take it easy like they should they get hit pretty hard and become exhausted almost instantaneously. We all live in different states too which makes it very difficult. Kellee, my sister still needs to send me all of her information....test results, medications, her records so to speak. I just research....so I better know what they are dealing with. Mostly the research is for myself. Anyway... Thanks Chani Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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