I am quite sensitive to Erbitux and and ended up in the ER after just getting a portion of the first infusion. Turned red, fell+ blacked out and foamed at the mouth. It felt like I had a ton of bricks on my chest. I did not have a prior heart condition whatsoever. This was a severe immune reaction, which is fortunately quite rare.

If they do the first infusion slowly and watch the patient carefully, then they can catch such a rare reaction before it becomes a problem.

Having said this I fully agree with the above posters that it is a good idea to combine radiation with some form of chemo, be that an antibody, like Erbitux or the platinum containing older chemo.

M