Saturday....February 7th...2008

The other Chemotherapy Drugs Linda is taking on the first day of each three week cycle of treatment:

Carboplatin

Carboplatin is a chemotherapy medication .

Carboplatin is a chemotherapy agent used for treatment of many types of cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved carboplatin for use treating patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Carboplatin is a platinum organic compound. Plain carbolplain appears as white crystals or powder, but it is mixed into a saline solution and administered through an intravenous feed.

Carboplatin kills cancer cells by binding to DNA and interfering with the cell's repair mechanism, which eventually leads to cell death. It is classified as an alkylating agents. (Alkylating agents can be used for most types of cancer, but are usually considered of greatest value in treating slow-growing cancers.) The platinum agents form strong chemical bonds with thiol sulfurs and amino nitrogens in proteins and nucleic acids.

It is considered a "second-generation" platinum agent. The first generation, cisplatin, is often called the "penicillin of cancer drugs" because it is used so widely. Carboplatin differs chemically from cisplatin by being a bigger molecule, with a dicarboxylate ligand. This slows the metabolic breakdown of the agent (it stays in the body longer) and reduces the rate of formation of toxic by-products.

Gemzar

Gemzar is used in combination with other types of chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic (stage IV or cancer that has spread) non-small cell lung cancer for whom surgery is not possible.

Gemzar belongs to the family of drugs called antimetabolites. Antimetabolites are very similar to normal substances within the cell. When the cells incorporate these substances into the cellular metabolism, they are unable to divide. Antimetabolites are cell-cycle specific. They attack cells at very specific phases in the cycle.

The ability of chemotherapy to kill cancer cells depends on its ability to halt cell division. Usually, the drugs work by damaging the RNA or DNA that tells the cell how to copy itself in division. If the cells are unable to divide, they die. The faster the cells are dividing, the more likely it is that chemotherapy will kill the cells, causing the tumor to shrink. They also induce cell suicide (self-death or apoptosis).