Iressa

havinghope
havinghope Member Posts: 9
edited March 2014 in Lung Cancer #1
I am new to the board and had read some encouraging stories on this site. My husband is 43 years old was dx with stage 4 cancer in Aug. He has a 4cm tumor on left lung, few little specks/dots on his right and 3 lymph nodes were tested postive with cancer, also 1 mets 0.4mm in brain (already did gamma knife radiation). He is currently doing a 12 days radiation course for the left lung and the lymph nodes, Docs says can not do radiation for right lung due to dots/specks are too small.

Docs are planinng to put him on Iressa after radiation, since he is non smoker and Asian, does anyone know of this drug? Why not do the regular chemo?

Any advise and insight is appreciated.

Comments

  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    #2
    ?
    Perhaps the docs are saying that the 'dots/specks' in right lung are small enough that they cannot yet accurately ascertain that they are truly cancer and do no want to irradiate unnecessarily? Just a guess. (Not to throw false hope at you, but if the 'dots/specks' in right lung do not grow, do not turn out to be cancerous, hub's chances for success may increase dramatically.)

    Wish I knew something to tell you about the "Iressa" you are asking about, but I do not.

    Best wishes to hub and his family!

    Take care,

    Joe
  • havinghope
    havinghope Member Posts: 9
    #3
    soccerfreaks said:

    ?
    Perhaps the docs are saying that the 'dots/specks' in right lung are small enough that they cannot yet accurately ascertain that they are truly cancer and do no want to irradiate unnecessarily? Just a guess. (Not to throw false hope at you, but if the 'dots/specks' in right lung do not grow, do not turn out to be cancerous, hub's chances for success may increase dramatically.)

    Wish I knew something to tell you about the "Iressa" you are asking about, but I do not.

    Best wishes to hub and his family!

    Take care,

    Joe

    Iressa drug
    Thank you Joe, we are meeting with the doc next two weeks, I have a list of questions for her.

    We are only hoping there's no addition spread since we last saw the doc 2 1/2 weeks ago before radiation. It seems like everytime they do a scan, there is addition dots/specks detected since he was dx in Aug 10, from stage 2 to 4 in 2 months. It's been a real roller coaster and emotional ride.
    From what I google Iressa and Traceva are both maintance drugs....I don't know why they want to put him on Iressa when he didn't even start chemo yet.
  • stayingcalm
    stayingcalm Member Posts: 650 Member
    #4
    havinghope said:

    Iressa drug
    Thank you Joe, we are meeting with the doc next two weeks, I have a list of questions for her.

    We are only hoping there's no addition spread since we last saw the doc 2 1/2 weeks ago before radiation. It seems like everytime they do a scan, there is addition dots/specks detected since he was dx in Aug 10, from stage 2 to 4 in 2 months. It's been a real roller coaster and emotional ride.
    From what I google Iressa and Traceva are both maintance drugs....I don't know why they want to put him on Iressa when he didn't even start chemo yet.

    Iressa
    Hi, havinghope,
    I'm not really sure you could call Tarceva a maintenance drug, same for Iressa. They're both targeted drugs in pill form, and both bind to the epidermal growth factor receptors, very similar. I know Tarceva is being used more and more as a second or third line treatment, and even first line in some cases.

    Both Tarceva and Iressa seem to work much better for non-smokers of Asian descent, your oncologist is most likely taking advantage of that because Iressa has a good chance of being a winner for your husband, and then he won't have to suffer the heavy-hitting chemo.

    I wish you and your husband much luck,
    stayingcalm
  • havinghope
    havinghope Member Posts: 9
    #5
    stayingcalm said:

    Iressa
    Hi, havinghope,
    I'm not really sure you could call Tarceva a maintenance drug, same for Iressa. They're both targeted drugs in pill form, and both bind to the epidermal growth factor receptors, very similar. I know Tarceva is being used more and more as a second or third line treatment, and even first line in some cases.

    Both Tarceva and Iressa seem to work much better for non-smokers of Asian descent, your oncologist is most likely taking advantage of that because Iressa has a good chance of being a winner for your husband, and then he won't have to suffer the heavy-hitting chemo.

    I wish you and your husband much luck,
    stayingcalm

    Iressa drug
    Thank you stayingcalm, you are very informative. The oncologist is waiting for his test results (I believe it's EGR..not quite sure what the exact name is). Since you are on Tarceva and we haven't met with the oncologist yet, would you know if Tarceva or Iressa will target any undetectable cancer cells that currently too small and does not show up on scans?

    Thanks again.
  • stayingcalm
    stayingcalm Member Posts: 650 Member
    #6
    havinghope said:

    Iressa drug
    Thank you stayingcalm, you are very informative. The oncologist is waiting for his test results (I believe it's EGR..not quite sure what the exact name is). Since you are on Tarceva and we haven't met with the oncologist yet, would you know if Tarceva or Iressa will target any undetectable cancer cells that currently too small and does not show up on scans?

    Thanks again.

    EGFR
    havinghope (what a great team-name we would have: havinghope and stayingcalm!;-)),
    All I can really tell you is that I had some small brain mets that went away after I started Tarceva, so I would say, yes!

    Are you in Canada, or the UK? Because I thought Iressa was no longer used here, unless it was already in use...

    Take care,
    stayingcalm
  • havinghope
    havinghope Member Posts: 9
    #7
    stayingcalm said:

    EGFR
    havinghope (what a great team-name we would have: havinghope and stayingcalm!;-)),
    All I can really tell you is that I had some small brain mets that went away after I started Tarceva, so I would say, yes!

    Are you in Canada, or the UK? Because I thought Iressa was no longer used here, unless it was already in use...

    Take care,
    stayingcalm

    Iressa drug
    thanks again, yes, our names are worth more than a billion words :) it's all we need during these difficult times. I am in Canada, it's quite a process here to get that drug, but the doc wants to try for it, she's thinking it might benefit my husband if his EGFR is positive, it takes 3 weeks to get his EGFR results and then they have approach the company for the trail. In the mean time the waiting period is tourture.

    Regardless, we all have to have hope and stay calm :))


    Take care and thanks again.

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