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.