Hi,
Neupogen is a granulocyte colony stimulating factor which helps in the formation of new WBCs (white blood cells). These are infection fighting cells which get depleted by chemotherapy drugs. Paclitaxel (Taxol) is a chemotherapy drugs which is used to kill cancer cells. Therefore Neupogen is not a substitute for Paclitaxel. Neupogen may be given with chemotherapy to prevent the depletion of WBCs. In your case, chemotherapy is an essential part of treatment since it has been shown to decrease recurrence rates.
All the best!
Thank you very much. That does clear up my question.
Barbara
Why can some people get chemo treatments for so many days in a row for a given number of weeks and others have to get the cocktail treatment? If cells are contained and have not shown up on a PET scan and only show up when sliced to show microscopic cancer cells, then would a different treatment like not so aggresive to fine to use and what would be the name of the drug? What are the chances that any cells have gone into the blood stream?
If they can check a person's blood during these treatments and at the end say they are cancer free or in remission, how do they know this? Why don't they do test BEFORE any treatmenst are given to be sure the person really needs it? If they say there is no way of telling, then how can they tell at the end of treatments?
It just seems like there are people getting treatments that do not really need them and can cause problems especially if there good cells are already attacking the bad ones like my doctor says mine are.
Thank you,
Barbara
Hi,
The chemotherapy regimen is decided on the basis of the type of cancer and certain predicitve and prognostic markers which indicate the aggressiveness and responsiveness of the tumor. Even the presence of microsopic tumor cells can eventually lead to a recurrence. Chemotherapy is prescribed in certain stages of breast cancer based on the evidence of benefit in patients in various clinical trials which have shown that the recurrence rates were less in patients who received chemotherapy. The benefit is measured by the duration of disease free survival and overall survival.
All the best