"Oh, Yeah!" Quite notably, doxorubicin is a vesicant. I cannot help my childhood memory conjuring up an image of the red Kool-Aid man busting through a wall and running through my patient's vein as I push doxorubicin. Doxorubicin can be administered as a continuous infusion (protect from light) however, in the outpatient setting, you will typically give this as a bolus injection. For lymphomas, in the combo of R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin hydrochloride, vincristine sulfate, and prednisone), the frequency and number of cycles will be different. This can be given every three weeks or every two weeks (considered dose dense) if a granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor is added for support. For example, in breast cancer, four cycles is typical. ![]() As such, it deservedly has been nicknamed the red devil.Īdministration schedules may vary depending on the diagnosis being treated with regard to the number and frequency of cycles. It is a pretty color and a pretty nasty little chemotherapy agent. Upon first glance, most nurses think, “Well, it’s pretty.” And it is. In fact, it will likely get the attention not only of the patient receiving it but also of the other patients in the room, particularly if they’re not receiving the same drug. Doxorubicin is bright red- seriously red. So let’s start with the most talked about and memorable characteristic of this drug-it's color. Most commonly, you’ll use it to treat patients with breast cancer. As you can imagine, with all of those indications, you’ll be seeing this drug quite a lot. ![]() caesius (soil fungus), doxorubicin is semi-synthetically produced and is indicated for the treatment of a multitude of cancers, including breast and ovarian, leukemia (acute myelogenous leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia), Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Wilms tumor, neuoroblastoma, and sarcoma. Isolated from cultures of Streptomyces peucetius var. Learn even more about the red devil on Episode 92 of the Oncology Nursing Podcast.ĭoxorubicin (Adriamycin ®) is a cytotoxic chemotherapy drug and an antitumor antibiotic in the anthracycline group. Editor's note: This article was first published on April 10, 2015, and updated on May 29, 2018.
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