Has anyone ever been on the drug Hydroxyurea to treat CML?
Hydroxyurea to treat CML?
Started by
CML2012
, Mar 22 2014 12:09 PM
3 replies to this topic
#1
CML2012
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Posted 22 March 2014 - 12:09 PM
Diagnosed CML December 2012
Gleevec 400 mg
PCR 53%, 41%, 1.69%, 5.63% (Mutation test negative) September 2013
Sprycel 100 mg
PCR 1.1%, 0.2%, 0.2%, 0.6%, .09%, .06%, PCRU June 2015, PCRU Sept 2015, PCRU Dec 2015, 0.042% Mar 2016, 0.122% April 2016, 0.19% June 2016, 0.176% July 2016, .052% Sept 2016, .031% Nov 2016
Diagnosed Basel Skin Cancer December 2012, October 2014 (All cancer removed)
Diagnosed Melanoma April 2015 (All cancer removed)
Gleevec 400 mg
PCR 53%, 41%, 1.69%, 5.63% (Mutation test negative) September 2013
Sprycel 100 mg
PCR 1.1%, 0.2%, 0.2%, 0.6%, .09%, .06%, PCRU June 2015, PCRU Sept 2015, PCRU Dec 2015, 0.042% Mar 2016, 0.122% April 2016, 0.19% June 2016, 0.176% July 2016, .052% Sept 2016, .031% Nov 2016
Diagnosed Basel Skin Cancer December 2012, October 2014 (All cancer removed)
Diagnosed Melanoma April 2015 (All cancer removed)
#2
Susan61
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Posted 22 March 2014 - 12:21 PM
Hi: Why do you ask? The short term for this drug is Hydrea to make it easier, and it is used to kill off the Leukemic cells. Its not for long term use. For example when I was diagnosed in 1998 and I could not tolerate the Interferon which was the only choice back then, I was put on Hydrea to keep killing off the cancer cells so they would not multiply too fast before I could get a BMT. I then did the trial for the Gleevec back in 2000,and decided against the BMT. When I started the Gleevec I was taken off the Hydrea.
A typical example is that my elderly mother was just diagnosed with CML, and due to heart problems they will not put her on a TKI, plus the fact she is 88 years old. They put her on the Hydrea, but its not really working too well for her.
When I was on Hydrea it worked for me for 6 months before I got onto the Gleevec.
If you give a bit more information, you will probably get some more feedback on your question.
Hope your doing well. I have not been able to get on here very often, and have not gotten to know a lot of our new people.
Susan
#3
0vercast
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Posted 22 March 2014 - 06:33 PM
Hydrea usage seems to be a very controversial topic among CMLers. Some say it's completely unnecessary, that only a TKI is needed.
Many (probably the majority) of us tried it immediately after diagnosis to quickly get our WBC numbers down to a normal range.
In addition to my TKI, I was on Hydrea for about a week, taking 3200mg a day to drop me from 300,000 to 15,000 WBC. After that, the TKI was all I took and all I needed.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Hydrea does a thing to actually kill leukemic stem cells. Its purpose is to rapidly clear/kill existing cancer cells from the blood and spleen; therefore, it's meant to be very temporary.
#4
Trey
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Posted 23 March 2014 - 09:03 AM
It is a chemotherapy drug, although not as harsh as some. It will not work over the longer term.
Although some Oncs still use Hydroxyurea (HU) as an initial treatment for CML leukemia, they should NOT do that because it can lead to a crash of blood counts after the patient starts the TKI drug. And since it is a chemo drug it is not good to use it unless that is the only option. If the blood counts are extremely high (maybe over 300K at diagnosis) it would be better to use leukapheresis instead of HU.
http://www.cancerres...s-leukapheresis
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