dwebster4
![]()
Posts:2
I posted last week where I had a petscan/ct done and it showed still some cancer. I have stage 3B lung cancer. took 30 radiation treatments which messed up esopahgus because my 3mm tumor was on my wind pipe so surgery wasnt an option, Along with radiation i took taxol and carpoplatinum, once a week for six weeks. tumor shrunk. then started carpoplatinum with alimita for once a month for 6 months. the last two months had severe reaction to carpoplatinum. then when i had petscan/ct last week the other spot below my colar bone still show cancer. Now they want me to start alimta and avastin once every three weeks. I read side effects of avastin and its scary. Looking for imput on these drugs together and how have they worked for others
Forums
Reply # - May 4, 2013, 10:06 AM
Reply To: avastin and alimita please help
Hello,
I can understand how reading about side effects of a particular drug can be scary. For legal reasons, drug manufacturers feel the need to report every side effect that patients may have experienced, even if the chance of that side effect is very small. In the case of avastin, you may be especially worried about bleeding and related complications. Initially those issues seemed to be applicable to all patients, but it has since been learned that they mostly occur with patients with squamous cell lung cancer. You can read Dr. West's post on that subject here: http://cancergrace.org/lung/2009/10/30/avastin-vanderbilt-phase-ii/
There is also a previous thread in which the long-term effectiveness of these drugs is discussed: http://cancergrace.org/lung/topic/is-anyone-tracking-long-term-alimtaav…
Good luck with the new regimen.
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - May 4, 2013, 04:15 PM
Reply To: avastin and alimita please help
I would say that there is some reason to be concerned about side effects of avastin (bevacizumab) when given with or even after radiation. Avastin can lead to problems with wound healing, and we've seen problems with fistulas (a fistula is an abnormal connection of one anatomical structure to another from the breakdown of the tissue in between, so essentially a fancy medical word for "hole") in the area of radiation, especially when radiation is given concurrent with Avastin, but sometimes also in people who received radiation months before they received Avastin. Avastin hasn't been studied enough in this setting for us to say how effective and safe it really is for this situation.
-Dr. West