Chemotherapy and Chemotherapy Drugs

Called the "anticancer drug," chemotherapy lung cancer treatment consists of a personalized combination of potent chemotherapy drugs, such as Iressa, gefintinib, Paclitaxel, Taxol, and Xyotax (usually administered intravenously but occasionally in pill form), designed to slow rapid cancer tumor growth, shrink tumors, kill cancer cells, and prevent the spread of lung cancer. These chemotherapy drugs, namely iressa and taxol, prevent cells from replicating in the typical, out-of-control manner in which cancer cells divide.

Chemotherapy drugs are often used in conjunction with other lung cancer treatments, such as surgery, as a safety precaution. For example, even if a tumor is successfully removed during surgery, cancer cells can still remain embedded in surrounding tissue. Chemotherapy drugs are able to kill these remaining cells and whatever cells have broken off the tumor that was removed, effectively wiping out all local cancer.

Chemotherapy drugs are often administered in a sequence of rounds or cycles; each set of cycles is called a course. Usually, each chemotherapy drug lung cancer treatment course contains four to eight cycles and ../includes some form of Iressa or Taxol.

Because chemotherapy drugs are strong enough to kill cancerous cells, they are also strong enough to kill normal, healthy ones. This killing off of healthy cells surfaces in the form of side effects of chemotherapy, including nausea, hair loss, vomiting, and some memory problems.

Below are descriptions of the two of the most common chemotherapy drugs, Taxol or Paclitaxel and Iressa or Gefitinib.

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Taxol / Paclitaxel

Paclitaxel, sold under the brand name Taxol, is a popular prescription chemotherapy drug used to treat non-small cell lung cancer. Taxol or Paclitaxel is typically combined with cisplatin, another chemotherapy drug, and is given to patients who are strong enough for chemotherapy but not strong enough for other lung cancer treatment methods, such as surgery or radiation therapy.

Administered intravenously, Taxol or Paclitaxel works by inhibiting the division, or mitosis, of cancer cells. When cancer cells cannot replicate, cancer cannot spread as quickly. However, Taxol / Paclitaxel is not effective in shrinking existing tumors and cells; instead, Taxol functions as a preventative chemotherapy drug.

Taxol / Paclitaxel is an extremely potent chemotherapy drug, often producing a number of side effects in patients. Side effects of Taxol / Paclitaxel include severe allergic reactions, cardiovascular problems (such as changes in blood pressure), infections developing from white blood cell deficiencies, complete hair loss (apolecia), joint and muscle pain, irritation at the Taxol and other chemotherapy drugs injection site, low red blood cell count, mouth or lip sore, numbness or burning in the hands and feet, and stomach upset/diarrhea. In addition, Taxol / Paclitaxel chemotherapy drugs should not be administered to pregnant women or nursing mothers, as Taxol can be extremely dangerous to fetuses and infants, to patients with allergies to polyoxyethylated castor oil, or to patients with low white blood cell counts.

Xyotax

Xyotax is being developed to improve the effectiveness of Taxol / Paclitaxel. Scientists are in the midst of creating Xyotax, a brand-new, experimental paclitaxel-based lung cancer treatment.

Xyotax is believed to reduce the time it takes paclitaxel chemotherapy to work, thereby preventing serious allergic reactions and other serious side effects in patients taking Taxol. Xyotax is also designed to be absorbed by tumor-laden tissue rather than healthy tissue, thus eliminating the toxic effect of Xyotax on the body.

Xyotax is most effective in patients with very advanced or serious cases of lung cancer.

Xyotax is a very new chemotherapy drug. Developments with Xyotax are still being learned. Contact a lung cancer attorney to learn more about the effectiveness of Paclitaxel, Taxol, and Xyotax.

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Iressa / Gefitinib

Iressa with Gefitinib is a new chemotherapy drug designed to inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells by blocking the release of the enzyme tyrosine kinase, which normally aids in their replication. Iressa's active ingredient is Gefitinib.

Iressa with Gefitinib is usually administered as a single chemotherapy drug to treat non-small cell lung cancer that has not effectively responded to other chemotherapy drugs. Iressa with Gefitinib is taken alone-not in conjunction with other chemotherapy drugs. Iressa with Gefitinib is successful in decreasing tumor size in roughly 10 percent of patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Iressa with Gefitinib chemotherapy drug as a lung cancer treatment after extensive clinical trials. However, approval for Iressa with Gefitinib was granted on the basis that Iressa will continue to provide therapeutic benefit to the patients. If it turns out that Iressa (and Gefitinib) is ineffective as a lung cancer treatment in the long term, the chemotherapy drug's approval as a lung cancer treatment could be revoked.

Contact a lung cancer attorney to learn more about the effectiveness of Iressa, Gefitinib, and other types of chemotherapy drugs.

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