Postby michellecairn » Sun May 14, 2017 12:04 pm
KElizabeth,
I don't know if this will help you, but I just went through a desensitization with Irinotecan on March 30, 2017.
My first chemo (back in November 2015) was supposed to be FOLFIRINOX (5-FU, Leucovorin, Oxaliplatin, and Irinotecan). They ran the Leucovorin and Irinotecan together and my tongue swelled up. They stopped the Irinotecan, and finished the Leucovorin. They tried the Irinotecan again, but my tongue swelled again. So the Irinotecan was pulled from my treatment, so I finished the rest of the chemos just getting FOLFOX.
After my immunotherapy failed, my onc wanted to try irinotecan again, so she said we had to desensitize me.
Basically what they did for me was had me admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital, and gave me a longer than normal infusion of the irinotecan in various amounts. From what I am told the "normal" infusion for Irinotecan is 2 hours. They split the infusion into 4 separate bags, and ran each bag over an hour - for a total time of 4 hours. I had asked how much of the drug was in each bag, and it was something to the effect of 30 mg in both the first and second bags, 60mg in the third bag and 230 mg in the fourth bag.
They had every available medication at my bedside ready to go in case I had another reaction to the drug. I also had a nurse that was present at my bedside the entire infusion. I didn't have any allergic reaction thankfully, but I did get some of the instant side effects that are normal (mouthwatering, and the diarrhea urge). They gave me some Atropine to combat those side effects.
After that infusion, I now get the Irinotecan at the cancer center where I usually go, but they still run the whole thing over a period of 4 hours. I'm also receiving Erbitux and pre-meds too, so my total infusion time is 5.5 hours. For my premeds I receive 8mg of Dexamethasone, 0.25mg Aloxi, 100mg Solu-Cortef, and 25mg Benedryl.
Best Wishes to everyone!
Age: 39(38 at dx), married, mom of 2
Stage IV
DX: 10-7-15 colon cancer (signet ring cell)
CEA: 10-4-15: 9.5, 2-8-16: 42.5, 3-7-16: 22.6, 5-26-16: 18.8, 7-27-16: 14.3, 10-20-16: 21.1
abnormal MSH6 and BARD1
KRAS: wild type
MSI High
Lynch positive
11-16-15: 1 round Folfirinox/5FU, 5 rounds folfox/5FU , 4 with Avastin
2-8-16: Chemo not working
3-7-16: back to folfox/Avastin/5FU
3-24-16: Keytruda
2-23-17: FAILED Keytruda
3-2-17: Erbitux
3-30-17: Erbitux + Irinotecan
5-25-17: FAILED Erbitux + Irinotecan