Docetaxel (inTPF Chemotherapy)

[drivin_me_nuts]

Quick question for the science bods here.

Docetaxel in TPF chemo - if any of you are familiar with this, can you tell or point me in the directions of studies that show efficacy over just Cisplatin and 5FU combination chemo.

I'm curious to know why it has been added.

Cheers.

[Broomsticklady]

Not directly relevant but I had that for breast cancer and it's not the friendliest of beasts - knocked me out on it's own so when mixed with others ... tho I did have septicemia at the time too which may not have helped ... When I was researching it I found this - probably you know already but just in case

"Taxotere (docetaxel) and Taxol (paclitaxel) are closely related. Taxol was discovered in the USA by testing many natural compounds while Taxotere was developed in Europe as part of a programme to screen closely related compounds. Both compounds work by interfering with cell division, but there are subtle differences. When tested in tissue culture not all cancer cells are equally sensitive to both agents. There are also differences in they way they are broken down and cleared from the body. So there are reasons to believe they may have different effectiveness as anti-cancer medicines."

Best of luck - watching your other thread with lots of sympathy for you all.

[dgb00]

Depends on the type of cancer as studies usually focus on one particular type. A review article is at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19639668 in head and neck cancers. Otherwise, try pubmed.com. Indexes most recent important scientific papers.

[IforB]

Your consultants would obviously be the best people to talk to about this, but I found Cisplatin to be a bit of a beeatch. Stuffs your tastebuds and has left me with a bit of tinnitus, but it did it's job.