

You have blood tests before and during your treatment. You have it every 3 weeks for as long as it’s working, and the side effects aren’t too bad. You then have trastuzumab alone for the remaining cycles. A cycle is the time between one round of treatment until the start of the next.Īfter each round of treatment you have a break, to allow your body to recover You usually have the combination of the drugs for the first 6 cycles of your treatment.

Or with the drugs fluorouracil and cisplatin. Or for advanced gastro oesophageal junction cancer.įor stomach and gastro oesophageal junction cancer you usually have it together with the chemotherapy drug capecitabine (Xeloda). You might have trastuzumab as the first treatment for a type of stomach cancer called adenocarcinoma of the stomach that has spread to other parts of the body. You have it every 3 weeks for as long as it is working and the side effects aren’t too bad.įor advanced stomach or gastro oesophageal cancer Trastuzumab is also used as a treatment on its own for people who have had at least 2 types of chemotherapy and where hormone therapy has not worked. This continues for up to a year.Īs the first treatment for breast cancer that has spread, you might have it together with the chemotherapy drugs paclitaxel (Taxol) or docetaxel (Taxotere) or with hormone therapies called aromatase inhibitors. You usually have it every week (weekly regimen) or every 3 weeks (3 weekly regimen). You have it before or after surgery and chemotherapy. You might have trastuzumab alone, or together with chemotherapy. They will check you for side effects for a few hours after the injection. It is important that your nurse changes which leg you have your injection in each time, to stop the area getting sore. The injection takes about 2 to 5 minutes. You might have trastuzumab as an injection under the skin, on the upper, outer part of your leg. If you don't have a central line, you might have treatment through a thin short tube (a cannula) that goes into a vein in your arm each time you have treatment. The tube stays in place throughout the course of treatment.


You might have treatment through a long plastic tube that goes into a large vein in your chest. Depending on the effects you have, the next infusion might be shorter. You have the first treatment over 90 minutes and your team will check you for any side effects. If you have trastuzumab intravenously, you may be able to switch to the subcutaneous injection.įor stomach cancer, or gastro oesophageal junction cancer, you usually have trastuzumab as a drip into your bloodstream.Įach treatment takes between 30 and 90 minutes.
#SIDE EFFECTS OF YELLOW PEEL SKIN#
How do you have trastuzumab?įor breast cancer, you might have trastuzumab as a drip into your bloodstream (intravenously) or as an injection under the skin (subcutaneous). It works by attaching to HER2 so it stops the cancer cells from growing and dividing. Trastuzumab is a type of targeted cancer drug called a monoclonal antibody. HER2 makes the cancer cells grow and divide. Some breast and stomach cancers have large amounts of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Biosimilars undergo strict testing to check they work just as well as the original drug. A biosimilar is a very similar copy of the original drug, but it is not exactly the same. You might have the original drug called Herceptin, or a biosimilar such as Herzuma or Ontruzant. breast, stomach and gastro oesophageal junction cancer that has spread to another part of the body (advanced or metastatic cancer).So, the cancer hasn't spread to any other part of the body) early breast cancer (the cancer hasn't spread beyond the breast or the lymph nodes in the armpit on the same side of the body.It is a treatment for cancers that have large amounts of a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), such as: Trastuzumab is a targeted cancer drug and is also known by other names such as Herceptin, Herzuma and Ontruzant. It is a treatment for early and advanced breast cancer, advanced stomach cancer and cancer of where the food pipe joins your stomach (gastro oesophageal junction).
