Treating Rash in Mesothelioma Patients
Administration of ≥1.5 mg of corticosteroids on day 2 and day 3 significantly reduced the severity of the rash compared to no supplementary treatment.
Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) November 06, 2015
Japanese doctors say mesothelioma patients who are treated with a corticosteroid drug like dexamethasone while on chemotherapy with pemetrexed are less likely to develop a serious skin rash. Surviving Mesothelioma has just posted an article on the new research. Click here to read it now.
Doctors at Tokushima University compared the cases of 78 mesothelioma patients on the common chemotherapy drug, pemetrexed. Many of those who had dexamethasone during the first three days of treatment avoided one of pemetrexed’s unpleasant but common side effects.
“Administration of ≥1.5 mg of corticosteroids on day 2 and day 3 significantly reduced the severity of the rash compared to no supplementary treatment. However, increasing the dose of corticosteroids had no additional effect on rash development,” writes author Takumi Sakurada, PhD.
The authors of the report in Biological and Pharmacological Bulletin say that, while corticosteroids have been used to treat pemetrexed-induced rash in mesothelioma patients, their use and dosing had not been fully verified.
“Chemotherapy for mesothelioma is difficult enough without patients also having to deal with the discomfort of a skin rash,” says Alex Strauss, Managing Editor of Surviving Mesothelioma. “We are hopeful that this new information may help improve the clinical management of rash in mesothelioma patients who are or will be on pemetrexed.”
For a more thorough explanation of the study findings and to learn more about chemotherapy for mesothelioma, see Mesothelioma Patients May Avoid Chemotherapy Rash with This Medicine, available now on the Surviving Mesothelioma website.
Sakurada, T et al, “Pemetrexed-Induced Rash May Be Prevented by Supplementary Corticosteroids”, 2015, Biological and Pharmacological Bulletin, pp. 1752-1756. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26521826
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