Alimta Maintenance Dosage - 1260487

wantvictory
Posts:16

What is the correct dosage for Alimta matainence for a 180 pound 5'5" tall, 57 year old woman.
Blood work good no limiting health problems.

Many thanks,

Forums

catdander
Posts:

From a previous post Dr. West stated, "The standard and by far most typically used dose for Alimta is 500 mg/m2. This dose was compared to a higher dose of 900 mg/m2 in a clinical study, with the higher dose showing more side effects but not even a good suggestion of an improvement in efficacy, so there is really no incentive to exceed the standard dose.

"It is typical to adjust the dose if someone changes weight by about 5% or more over time. This isn't unusual: sometimes we adjust down, sometimes up." http://cancergrace.org/forums/index.php?topic=6720.0

Janine

wantvictory
Posts: 16

I understand the concept of the dosage information. Also provided on the Alimta page.

I do not know how to do the math.

I looked up the question before asking and was led to a page that was supposed to have a calculator - that page is no longer available.

Are you able to calculate the exact dosage with the info I have given?

Thanks,

Dr West
Posts: 4735

The dose is calculated by body surface area, and you can find several calculators here:

http://www.globalrph.com/bsa2.htm

If you plug in your numbers, the BSA is just under 2, about 1.9 - 1.96 meters squared, so the actual dose most commonly used would be just under 1000 mg.

-Dr. West