Management of hand-foot syndrome induced by capecitabine.

Introduction: Capecitabine (Xeloda) is a systemic prodrug of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), which is administered in an oral formulation. Hand-foot syndrome (HFS) has proven to be a chronic dose-limiting toxicity of capecitabine, leading to significant morbidity in patients receiving this agent. The purpose of this review is to define the pathophysiology, risk factors, incidence and management of capecitabine-induced HFS.

Pemetrexed, a novel antifolate therapeutic alternative for cancer chemotherapy.

Pemetrexed is a newly approved antifolate agent for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We performed a PubMed/MEDLINE database search to identify relevant literature from January 1966-April 2005. Bibliographies from identified references were searched as well, as were abstracts from the 2004 and 2005 proceedings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Bortezomib treatment for multiple myeloma.

Objective: To review the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and place of bortezomib in the therapy of multiple myeloma (MM).

Data Sources: A MEDLINE search was conducted (1985-May 2003). Meeting abstracts, bibliographies from identified articles, and the package insert were also used.

A review of clinical experience with paclitaxel extravasations.

Paclitaxel is a novel anti-neoplastic with a wide spectrum of activity in various malignant tumors. Extravasation of chemotherapy drugs is a widely feared adverse event in oncology patients. A Medline search between 1966 and October 2002 was conducted to identify case reports related to paclitaxel extravasation, as well as a bibliography screening of identified papers.

Implementation and results of a test dose program with taxanes.

Purpose: A pilot taxane test-dose policy was developed and implemented to determine whether the severity of patient hypersensitivity reaction and drug waste would be reduced.

Patients And Methods: Data from 206 eligible cancer patients undergoing first-dose taxane chemotherapy were analyzed. The severity of hypersensitivity reactions before and after the implementation of taxane test dose was graded (scale 1-4) and analyzed for statistical differences between groups.