Bleomycin and lung damage

Pebbles420 · New User Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 8

Hello everyone,

This is my first post. I'm so glad I found this forum.

I'm currently being treated for Hodgkin's Lymphoma I have had 9 treatments out of 12 of ABVD. My doctor recently sent me for a pulmonary function test and a muga scan because my feet were swollen for some time and I have been experiencing shortness of breath. My heart has not been affected...Yay. However my lung function is not the same. My doctor says it's a very significant change since the first PFT before the treatment. My doctor's plan is to not include the Bleomycin and give me the other drugs.

I have a few questions:

1. How will the absence of Bleomycin in my treatment affect the outcome?
2. Has anyone here experienced any lung damage with this treatment? How are you dealing with it?

The doctor had to skip my last treatment in order to get the tests done before continuing and I have been without receiving chemotherapy for almost a month. Does anyone know if this can affect the outcome of the treatment?

Note: I had a pet scan done after the 6th treatment and I was clear Razz

I'd really appreciate any comments and suggestions.

Thank you so much

Patricia

n1kk1 · Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:17 am Post subject: Re: Bleomycin and lung damage

I'm also getting ABVD and thought that my lungs would've had a lot of change as well as i've been feeling a bit breathless at times. I had my PFT on Monday and showed to be roughly the same as before starting Chemotherapy.

The nurse that gives me my Chemo was telling me about another patient having lung damage. The Bleomycin was taken out and his lung funtion returned back to normal after being missed out a couple of times.

Pebbles420 · New User Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 8

[quote="n1kk1"]I'm also getting ABVD and thought that my lungs would've had a lot of change as well as i've been feeling a bit breathless at times. I had my PFT on Monday and showed to be roughly the same as before starting Chemotherapy.

The nurse that gives me my Chemo was telling me about another patient having lung damage. The Bleomycin was taken out and his lung funtion returned back to normal after being missed out a couple of times.[/quote]

Thanks so much for your reply.
I was wondering if anyone knows if this may cause a significant negative difference in the treatment outcome. Fortunately my PFT was repeated and my lung function was not as affected as my doctor had thought, which is very good news, but the doctor is still removing the Bleomycin from the treatmet. I just hope my outcome is as succesful as if I was receiving the Bleomycin.

Thanks again,

Good luck

Life_101 · Regular Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 20 Location: N.E. Ohio

Hello,
Lung damage is mostly caused by the bleo in abvd cancer treatment
although I'm sure the others play a part. One of the pathways bleomycin
does this is by creating free radicals which attack fast growing cancer
cells so never take anti-oxidant supplements while in chemo treatment.
It would be fighting the cancer killing purpose of the chemo. Here is a link
to more info on bleomycin.
http://www.lymphomainfo.net/therapy/drugs/bleomycin.html

Hope this helps and good luck to you.

..... Frank .....

.

Pebbles420 · New User Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 8

Thanks for your response Frank. I didn't know about the free radicals nor how the taking of anti-oxidants can affect the treatment. This is good to know.

Thanks again,

Patricia

	Cancer Forums Forum Index -> Lymphoma - Hodgkin's and Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Forum	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

A website for discussions about any type of cancer, including lung cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, prostate cancer, laryngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and others