What is Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is a cancer of the lungs characterized by the presence of malignant tumours. Most commonly it is bronchogenic carcinoma (about 90%). Lung cancer is one of the most leth...
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Tarceva: gift of life
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My mom is a 65yo never smoker with stage 4 lung cancer, diagnosed December '08. In January she was put on Tarceva right after receiving radiation on her hip. She is pain free today and feels GREAT!! On the first CT scan (2 months after starting) she had a 90% reduction in size to the primary lung mass!
She did develop the face rash (acne), which went away after she went off Tarceva for a week and took an antibiotic. She also has had trouble with slow healing wounds in her toes, which her doc says is a side effect common to tarceva. She also gets frequent and sudden diarrhea. It can be very troubling for her, especially when its hot out and she gets dehydrated. She has learned to use imodium regularly, which helps. Other than that, she enjoys her days and only visits the oncologist every month with CT scans every 2 months. We have our next CT scan in 3 weeks and based on her slightly worsening fatigue and cough I think we may need to start looking for a new drug. But these last 7 months have been a gift we didn't think we were going to get. Then again, maybe she has a cold and she's still doing great. Hope is alive! Posted on 07/12/09, 02:07 am |
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For EGFR positive patients, usually non-smokers, Tarceva is a very impressive drug with a response rate of about 60%. 
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I am so glad your mom has had this time with you. My husband was diagnosed with lung cancer in March of 07. He has done wonderful on his treatments. However, we are on a cocktail of 3 different chemos now and I'm not sure what is going to happen or when. However, we've had more time together than I ever thought.
God bless you, dear.
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I really hope I can be one of the 60% who respond. I have just been taking Tarceva since 7/18/09. I have had surgery, chemotherapy, & radiation. When I had a PET scan 7/13/09 it showed no cancer so he started me on Tarceva. I did have it in quite a few lymph nodes at the time of surgery so am hoping it all works. I am only 52 and have never smoked or been around 2nd hand smoke so this just came out of the blue. I am praying 24 hours each day that it works to keep it away!!
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Many non-smokers do well on Tarceva with the rash a sign of response. I am not sure I would associate Tarceva with fatigue as opposed to the disease itself. In looking at clinical trials, you see some percentage of people taking the drug with and without the drug. I am glad to see she is doing well and hope that continues.
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I believe there is limited evidence that Tarceva is contributing to her fatigue. It may be due to the cancer itself or other factors. It's easy to say I am taking drug A, I have these symptoms and therefore the drug is causing it, but that is inaccurate here. Indeed, placebo studies frequently show groups getting the placebo providing various complaints.
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This should cheer you up. I used to joke and say to myself,"one day there will be a pill or something".
Well, CTIC cell theraputics --can't spell too early without coffee....
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Do you have to have the rash to prove it is working? I had it when I first started and my skin was real dry but then I started using a lot of Mary Kay moisturizing lotions and it cleared up the dry skin and the rash. Now I just have rounds of acne type break outs on my face which I never had before but I do not have the rash like it was when I started.
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