Etoposide anyone?

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marywh
marywh Member Posts: 2,280
edited July 2018 in Stage IV/Metastatic Breast Cancer ONLY

Just hoping I'll run across somebody that has done this or is now doing it. I don't believe Ive ever seen it  in any of the threads. It is a pill form of chemo and pretty much my last hope. I had major progression in my liver while on navalbine plus a new big lesion on my femur. Im getting pretty discouraged. Mo also switched me to morphine for pain, nothing else is helping and liver pain is bad. Any info would be great. The chemo is also known as VP-16 and VePesid.

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  • Brendatrue
    Brendatrue Member Posts: 1,830
    edited January 2014

    Hi, Mary,  I am sorry that you are dealing with progression and all the emotional responses and brainstorming that progression involves. I wish for your sake that I had some more useful knowledge about "etoposide" other than hearing that it may be useful for pretreated breast cancer patients, blocks an enzyme that is needed for cancer cells to divide, and may cause a drop in white and red blood cells as well as platelets. Perhaps you will hear from others with more information and/or personal experience. In the meantime, know that I wish you the best if you decide to try this med--the best possible outcome and minimal side effects and complications. Let us know how you are doing so that we can continue to provide support!

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  • JillThut
    JillThut Member Posts: 1,470
    edited January 2014

    So sorry to hear that, Mary.  And thanks, Brenda, because I have no knowledge of it whatsoever.

    Warm thoughts going out to you.  Sorry to hear you are suffering with so much pain.

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  • stagefree
    stagefree Member Posts: 2,780
    edited January 2014

    Mary,

    Thinking of you.. Hope for it to work! 

    Hugs

    Ebru

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  • Bestbird
    Bestbird Member Posts: 2,818
    edited January 2014

    I am sorry to hear about your progression and hadn't heard of etoposide until I read your post.  When I looked it up, I found this very encouraging study from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22490573

    I hope you have outstanding results!

    METHODS:

    MBC patients receiving at least two chemotherapy regimens prior to the enrollment were treated with repeated cycles of oral etoposide (60 mg×m(-2)×d(-1) on days 1-10, followed by 11 days of rest). The primary end point was the progression free survival (PFS). The secondary end points were objective response rate (ORR), clinical benefit rate (CBR), overall survival (OS), and toxicity profiles.

    RESULTS:

    Thirty-two patients received 230 cycles of oral etoposide with a median of 6 cycles (range, 2-20 cycles) per patient. Eight patients (25%) had partial response (PR) and 14 patients achieved stable disease (SD). The ORR was 25%. Nine patients achieved SD for more than 24 weeks and CBR was 53%. The median PFS and OS were 5 (range, 1.5-17.0 months) and 16 months (range, 3.0-51.0 months), respectively. The patients who achieved clinical benefit had longer survival time than those who did not (25.0 versus 11.0 months, P<0.01). Among the 16 patients who received more than four regimens prior to this study, four patients achieved PR and four achieved SD for more than 24 weeks, with a CBR of 50%. The most common hematologic adverse events were anemia (43.8%) and neutropenia (38.5%). Nausea/vomiting (75.0%) and alopecia (62.5%) were the most frequent non-hematologic toxicities.

    CONCLUSION:

    Oral etoposide is effective and well tolerated in Chinese women with heavily pretreated MBC.

    One quick note:  According to the American Cancer Society, Grapefruit and grapefruit juice can make etoposide capsules less effective. Some doctors recommend that you avoid grapefruit for 2 days before you take your pills and the day you take them. For instance, if you plan to take etoposide on Wednesday, you would skip the grapefruit Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. (I'm wondering if this might also hold true for all citrus and possibly Vit. C?)

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  • chris1959
    chris1959 Member Posts: 1,121
    edited January 2014

    mary

     unfortunately I have no advice to offer but I wanted to say im sorry you are dealing with this .and I hope the pill willwork for you .and I will be thinking of you

                                                                                                                                 love chris

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  • yangtan
    yangtan Member Posts: 75
    edited July 2018

    anybody on etoposide? What side effects are you experiencing

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