Iressa or other TKIs (Tarceva or Gilotrif) and heartburn - 1290001

samdig1
Posts:11

I was wondering if anyone on here is taking Iressa or another TKI that has developed bad heartburn. My mom was on Decadron for over a month for brain swelling and on Iressa for about a month. Less than a week after being tapered off of Decadron she has begun feeling some pretty bad heartburn. She started to take Pepcid Friday night which has helped but so far she has needed to take it twice a day. The doctor told her that she needs to take Iressa either 6 hours before or 6 hours after taking any antacid. I'm concerned that this severe heartburn is not a side effect of the drug so I was hoping someone on here could share their experience. Thank you.

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JimC
Posts: 2753

Hi samdig,

Yes, EGFR inhibitor therapy has been known to cause or worsen heartburn (GERD). As Dr. West noted several years ago:

"...many people here have described GERD that either starts or worsens with EGFR inhibitor therapy (and made more challenging by the desire to avoid proton pump inhibitor therapies like Protonix (pantoprazole), Prilosec (omeprazole), Nexium (esomeprazole), and Prevacid (lansoprazole), since taking any of these regularly may lower GI absorption of Tarceva and Iressa." - http://cancergrace.org/forums/index.php?topic=5840.msg50762#msg50762

JimC
Forum moderator