Cisplatin / Etoposide Scheduling - 1250690

richie1200
Posts:6

Good morning GRACE members,

I am about to start my second round Chemo for Ext-SCLC later this afternoon which is the typical Cisplatin / Etoposide 3 days on- 18 days off.

Based on everything I have read, the Cisplatin round always seems to be given on day 1, but for some reason my Dr. has me on Etop days 1,2 & 3 and Cisplatin on DAY 2?

Has anyone ever heard of this before? Does it make any difference? JUst wondering for when I see the doc later this afternoon.

Thanks in advance,
Richie

Forums
Full Archive

Reply # - November 28, 2012, 07:21 AM

richie1200
Posts: 6

Thanks Catdander,

The Etoposide is given all three days, it's the Cisplatin that seems to be day 1 for everyone else, and day 2 for me.

Would be awesome to hear from one of the Doctors.
Thanks

Reply # - November 28, 2012, 10:13 AM

carrigallen
Posts: 194

Hi Richie,
First of all I'm sorry about this recent diagnosis, it can be struggle adapting to getting chemotherapy like this. That being said, we usually see a great response with this treatment for small cell cancer.

Regarding the cisplatin on day 2, there is no proven reason to think that cisplatin will work better/worse on day 2 than day 1. Some people think that giving both agents together on day 1 may give you more time when both agents are working at once, but this theoretical.

On the converse side, since we usually obtain pre-chemotherapy bloodwork on day 1, giving the cisplatin on day 2 usually makes for shorter infusion clinic visits for the patient. This is because the pharmacy technician in the infusion center doesn't have to wait until your labs come back to make up the cisplatin on day 2.

Bottom line: it really doesn't matter, it may save you 10-20 minutes of waiting to give it on day 2, depending on the work flow at your infusion center.
I hope things go well,
Ben Creelan

Reply # - November 28, 2012, 09:05 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

I agree with Dr. Creelan. There are many different ways to give cisplatin and etoposide, and there is likely either extremely little or no difference among the regimens that give approximately the same amounts of the drugs and only differ in the schedule. In particular, I'd consider the difference of giving the cisplatin on day 2 vs. day 1 to be inconsequential -- i.e., perfectly fine.

-Dr. West

Previous PostNext Post