From:
"sorentabnitz"
Date: 2011-07-29 03:24:58 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] GinGin lymphoma update--Cytosar
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Monday GinGin had her recheck CBC. After cytoxan, her white count had dropped from 3k to 500 so we had held her chemo last week. Monday was about 10 days post cytoxan and her white count had rebounded to 6k.
On the down side, more of her peripheral LNs are affected now--not just R submandibular and both prescapular, but axillary and inguinal too.
She continues to eat well and seems her usual self so we did wk 3 of the Tufts protocol: L'asparaginase and cytosar. She gets a second dose of cytosar tomorrow.
Cytosar is processed very quickly by the body--apparently the ideal way of giving it is as a continuous rate infusion over many hours. In animals it is often given once a day for 4 days. The Tufts Protocol uses a dose higher than the 4 day daily dose but over 2 rather than 4 days.
The oncologist mentioned that it has been given 3-4 times a day (daily dose divided) and is probably more effective that way. However, when given more frequently the toxic effects can be worse--and the major toxic effect is sloughing of the GI tract.
I told him that if it could be more effective than 1xday I would be happy to try it despite the lack of published papers on ferrets. However, given that GinGin is already on pred (known to cause GI ulcers) and that she is a ferret (known to get ulcers at the drop of a hat), we agreed that without further information it was too risky to try.
If anyone has any anecdotal information on using cytosar in ferrets at a greater than once a day frequency I would be very interested in hearing about it.
thanks,
Skyla and GinGin
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