How much Herceptin?

[julierene]

I have a bunch of small mets in the bone and liver... I have never had Herceptin before. My dx is listed in the topic below. I was given 4mg of Herceptin the first dose, and now I will be getting 2mg for the remainder of the treatments - which may be as long as 6 months from now. How much Herceptin should I be getting? I am also on Taxol/Paraplatin/Zometa. Thanks in advance!

[Becky]

For the weekly Herceptin treatment the loading dose (first dose) is normally 6mg/kg of body weight and then 2mg/kg thereafter.


For the every 3 week dosing the loading dose is 8mg/kg and 4mg/kg thereafter.

I hope this helps.

Happy New Year

Becky

[Gina]

I am pretty sure the loading dose for Weekly herceptin is 4mg/kg followed by weekly infusions of 2mg/kg. The loading dose for EVERY two-week Herceptin is 6mg/kg followed every 2 weeks by doses of 4mg/kg (I think this is a good regimen by the way for semi active disease mets...fyi).

The loading dose for Every 3 -week Herceptin is 8mg/kg followed every 3 weeks by 6mg/kg...I find this dosage best when used as maintenance...it may not be frequent enough to "TREAT" active mets..just something to think about...

Take care,
Gina

[julierene]

Onc just told me that I would be off every 4th week. So basically I got 4mg for the first week, 2mg thereafter. I don't know if I will get 4mg again the 5th week or not. I have active mets, but I might be considered a moderate stage 4 since I have 2 well defined mets in my liver and a few more in my bones... I don't know why I am getting this dose, other than the Onc thinks it's a good schedule for me. Any thoughts?

[lu ann]

Dear Julierene, I was on a similar combo of tx. as you with the exception of carboplatin instead of paraplatin. My ca15-3 tumor markers were 345 before tx. and came down to 21 after 22 rad.tx's. and this chemo combo. I might suggest going back on this combo in the future if we are running out of options. I had tx. 3 weeks on/1off and I did not suffer some of the more severe side effects. I lost most of my hair which grew back before tx. ended and I did not have the numbness in my hands and feet. Blessings, Lu Ann.