Has anyone known someone that has had it as a treatment and what was the result.

Paul has had another recurrence in his neck and the only thing left for him is chemo. The onc. said he was to thin to try chemo and put him on Iressa ( I think to appease us). I have heard that if it works it can buy you some time to get well enough to try something else. Just haven't heard of anyone with head and neck

We would be grateful for any information anyone has.

thank you
Shirley

I remember seeing someone else on here who is on Iressa... my heart breaks to hear of Paul's recurrence... I will pray for both of you... Keep fightin'!!

Thank you Az,

It isn't looking good but we are not giving up. Our dog died this year and the other day he said he wanted to get another one, I took that too mean he planed on being around to take care of it. Keep us in your prayers

Hi Shirley,
My mom has been on Iressa for about a year now. She's part of a trial that uses Iressa in addition to a whole bunch of other chemo drugs and IMRT. She is ten months post treatment and uses Iressa daily. As part of her treatment plan, she is scheduled to take Iressa for another year. If I'm not mistaken, there are several hospitals in the US that are using Iressa for head and neck cancer patients (I believe MD Anderson, Sloan Kettering and University of Chicago Hospitals), and claim to have had success with it. Please let me know if you have any other questions about Iressa. I'll do my best to answer them for you. Feel free to email me. Best wishes.
D

My mom has a new tumor on her carotid artery and she finished radiation and chemo 12/03 following a radical neck dissection. She starts Iressa on Monday but not in combination w/ anything else- the oncologist at Johns Hopkins didn't seem too hopeful about Iressa but my mom's willing to try anything- have you heard that a combo. of drugs is better than Iressa alone?thanks

I am getting a magazine called Cure http://www.curetoday.com/ and they had an interesting article on Iressa. Some facts:
It is only indicated for lung cancer and only after failure of other forms of chemotherapy.
It was developed for adenocarcinoma.
It targets mutations in a specific region of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). These molecules produce tumors "that are exquisitly sensitive to treatment with Iressa".
Only 10% receiving it have any response - mostly women. Some (lung cancer) patients have had a rather dramatic response to treatment.

It may be a long shot to be prescribing it for oral cancer patients. But subsequent data may prove that wrong.

I can't answer your question about other chemo combinations. Some here have tried Zeloda which is an oral form of F5U.

Thank you Gary. I looked at the website and it linked me to lots of Iressa articles, which give me a little more hope. I'm praying that this drug works-I'll let you know. Thanks.Linda

Lynn was taking Iressa for metastatic oral cancer. It ultimately failed. You might want to look into monoclonal antibodies.

Best wishes...

-Brett

Thanks Brett- on to more research!Have you or anyone out ther heard of TOMOTHERAPY? My mom's seeing a Dr. at St. Agnes in Balto., MD on Friday. Mom did start the Iressa today. I'll let you all know how it is. Thank you. Linda

I scarfed this off the University of Wisconsin-Madison's website, edited by me for brievity:

"Tomotherapy, literally "slice" therapy, is a new form of cancer radiation therapy that combines the precision of a CT (computerized tomography) scan with the potency of radiation treatment to selectively destroy cancerous tumors while avoiding surrounding tissue.

Unlike traditional radiation therapy systems which have beams projecting onto the tumor from a few different directions, tomotherapy rotates the beam source around the patient, thus allowing the beam to enter the patient from many different angles in succession. The advantage is that instead of having, for example, six beams, each with 1/6 the dosage necessary to irradiate the tumor, the tomotherapy beam has only 1/72 the dosage and is projected into the tumor from 72 different positions as it rotates. Thus the tumor is more precisely targeted and the healthy tissue surrounding the tumor is subjected to much lower dosages of radiation.

The intensity of the beam is modulated through the use of a multi-leaf collimator system, thus further improving the precision of the treatment. By moving the radiation-blocking leaves in and out of the beam path with speed and precision, the location and intensity of the radiation entering the patient is accurately controlled. Also aiding in the precision targeting offered by tomotherapy is the inclusion of CT imaging technology within the tomotherapy device itself. This allows technicians to precisely locate the tumor before and during treatment.

...unlike other precision radiotherapy devices being tested, the patient is continuously moved through the device while the beam source rotates thus creating a spiral scan pattern. This continuous helical delivery pattern is faster, more accurate and avoids "seams" between scan slices that can occur with some other methods."

This seems to be an advanced version or variation of IMRT.

-Brett

God you're quick! thank you . Linda

Hi Gary,
I asked the Doctor filling in for my reguler medical on'gist about Iressa. He said there were no clinical trials for it around here and Iressa has never saved anyones life with what i've got.
He suggested if the carboplatin & taxol Don't work there are other standard forms of chemo they can try. He didn't give me much hope or good feelings about it.

Dan

I'm getting pretty much the same feel about Iressa from my Oncologist at MSKCC. In my case, lung mets, it would be used as a last effort. Hey Dan, the Carbo/Taxol got to my hair real good! Buzzed it off today!

I can't offer a lot of info on the effectiveness of the Iressa, but I can fill you in on some of the side effects. I'm in a trial at Univ. of Chicago, and I've been on Iressa since December.
Though I'm in remission right now, I can't say how much of the succes is due to the Taxol,Carboplatin, and Rads. and how much if any from the Iressa.

Within about 2 weeks of starting the Iressa, I developed an acne-like rash on my face (puberty again at 55 :rolleyes: ), and a less severe rash on my hands. I've had occasional diarhea attributable to the Iressa, but it was easily controlled with Imodium. My skin rash cleared up fairly quickly, and I've had no significant problems with it. Some of my "classmates" in the study had a more severe skin reaction, and were forced to discontinue the Iressa.
My oncologist at my last visit said that there was some early indication that Iressa and another EGFR blocker whose name escapes me were increasing the efficacy of Radiation treatments. I'm new to this forum. I hope this little bit of info is helpful.

Best Wishes

Chuck

Hello all,

They are going to put my dad on Iressa, Cisplatin and radiation at the same time. Has anyone been on all three? I have heard that Iressa is suppose to increase the effect of Radiation and Cisplatin, but have not found any concrete evidence or data of exactly how effective it is. Does anyone know of the effectiveness of all three of these?

Thanks,

Swati

Cisplatin increases the efficacy of the radiation by oxygenating the tissues. There weren't any references about radiation enhancement in the FDA "New Drug Application" (NDA) for Iressa.

Many people are put on a "cocktail" of chemo drugs but Iressa is very new and still being investigated.

my sister's last round of chemo was finished last week and they're going to start her soon on radiation+chemo. at the moment there is talk of using cisplatin, but her oncologist is still considering other drugs. he had mentioned herbitox earlier.

My mom's into her third of 6 weeks of Iressa after a recurrence in june- she finished chemo and rad. 12/03.Dr. at Johns Hopkins said it works ( shrinks tumor but doesn't actually extend life) in @ 10% of cases.Mom celebrated yesterday because she woke up w/ a rash on face and has diarhea- which is what most success patients experience. I'll let you know how it looks after her ct scan in 3 weeks.

Linda, I know this is serious business, but I had to laugh at the idea of someone celebrating diarrhea! Thanks for the chuckle, and all best wishes for a great and resounding success for your mom.