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Jack is scheduled for his 4th chemo treatment tomorrow. All our treatments have been Adriamycin. I know most dogs here have done 4 treatments, but our Oncologist recommended 6. My question is: How much of a difference do those last 2 treatments make? It is almost another $1000 which is a financial strain. If we decide to stop at 4, would it be beneficial in any way to request Carboplatin for our last treatment? GAH! Too many options and things to think about 😛 Thanks!
Laura
We decided to do one extra chemo for Tazzie so we did 5 carboplatin. It is okay to do up to 5 or 6 Adriamycin but after that the side effects on the heart become too great. There is probably no point in adding carboplatin now. I would save that to try in case of lung mets.
Pam and Tazzie
Jackers
You probably need to send that question to Pam (poor Pam, I keep saying this - I know she'd see your question without my saying this). Tazzie is getting Adriamycin and Carboplatin with three of each, but we are alternating treatments. It was just the oncologist's recommendation.
I do know that, so far, studies have reported no benefit of "combined protocols" (two drugs) over "single agent" (one drug) protocols. However, combined chemo protocols are theoretically expected to be more effective. (My best guess is that this theory is based on the expectation that two drugs are more likely to get cells resistant to one or the other drug, although you probably use less of each drug which would be a drawback.
On a related question, I see that with some human cancers (e.g., breast cancer), they change to taxol, which I believe is a drug used to cut off the blood supply (sort of like metronomics ) as opposed to adri. and platinum drugs which target cancer cells. I wonder (Pam do you know) why they don't use that sort of thing for K9 osteosarcoma?
Susan
(I'm sure your oncologist will make sure that Jackers does not get more than his total allowed amount of Adriamycin due to the heart issues)
Jack and Laura,
Sounds like you are being overwhelmed with treatment options. Luckily, we were given a primary course of treatment and we moved forward with that course. I know that I speak for many when I say a special THANKS!!! to Pam and Tazzie. Their knowledge and advice have been very valuable for us all. I know that I did not really contribute to this discussion from a solutions basis, but we still want to show our support.
Paws Crossed and Nothing But Pawsitive Thoughts Heading Your Way!
Bob & Cherry
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