Doing Dacogen at Home

[jaxem]

my wife is starting her 3rd round of dacogen at home which will be IV’d by a visiting RN once daily (3 hour infuse) for 5 days. MD Anderson has completed a study stating that this regimen is equally effective as the original. concentration is increased to 20 mg for each sq meter of body area. the nice thing is that it can be done at home & not in hospital surrounding (original is 5 hour infuse every 8 hours for 3 days). anybody have any experience doing dacogen at home?

[Mr Marc]

I’ll say a prayer for you and your wife. I have recently finished Revlimid and my next and final drug prior to evaluating a BMT will be Dacogen. My Dr. (Dr. Rice at Methodist here in Houston) didn’t know the most recent details on the adminstration of Dacogen but a quick check online (actually a press release available on the main MDS page) seems to callaborate with what you are saying….phase II study at MD Anderston (Dr. Kantarjin) found that a daily infusion for 5 days seemed to have the best results. Although, it stated the IV admin. over 1 hr, not 3. Does this mean that in some cases, such as your wife’s, that they are still preferring the administration over 3 hrs? Also, is it still administered every 4 wks., up to 4 courses of treatment? I think I like the idea of having the option of doing it at home….my hospital copays are going to get hefty if I need to go in 5 days/wk. every 4 wks. Out of curiousity, who is your wife’s Hematologist? Thanks for any info. and keep us updated on your wife’s progress.

[jaxem]

marc

my wife had finished one round of vidaza before going through 2 rounds of dacogen in the hospital. she just completed her 3rd round of dacogen at home with no adverse effects. i advise going through one round in the hospital to determine any issues with the drug. i entered “administration of dacogen” into my browser and came up with the md anderson article. instead of the typical 3 day treatment of 5 hour administration every 8 hours, the md anderson regimen has treatment for 5 days administering for 3 hours every 24 hours. concentration is a bit different. the original 8 hour treatment administers 15 mg/sq meter of body area whereas the daily treatment administers 20 mg. the original will put 15mg x 3 admins/day x 3 days = 135 mg into the body whereas the daily inputs 20 mg x 1 admin/day x 5 days = 100 mg to the body. no toxity issues & same effectivity. i never saw anything about a 1 hour admin, only 3. dacogen rounds are typically done every 6 weeks, not 4. 4 courses of treatment are also typical. yes, it is a LOT less expensive doing it at home than in hospital but i think the 1st round should be done in the hospital.

my wife is being treated by a hema. named Robert Emmons at Temple Univ’s Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

[annie-anne]

Jack,
Thanx for the news re: Dacogen @ home. I get Dac. for one hour per dayfor five days, because of my weight. (135 lbs.) Dr. figures it on his computer then that’s it. Three weks off and start again. Pres. giving myself Nupergen @ home, and also B12. Not sure My MD will OK home IV, but it sounds wonderful. Labs look good so may be able to DC one of these days. Hosp. makes lot more money when you are treated there.
Annie-Anne

[jaxem]

annie
agrred about making more money in hosp but docs are under a lot of pressure to reduce costs w/o harming patients. good luck with the drug!

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