getting pressure from family members to try drugs. would probably be recommended to try novantrone. don't know where to turn. not convinced AI drugs are the way to go.
Novantrone (also known as mitoxantrone) is cardiotoxic. The number of treatments you can receive is limited. Congestive heart failure can occur during treatment or even years afterwards. It's not a long term solution as an MS treatment. Leukemia is also a risk factor of novantrone.
Congestive heart failure (CHF), potentially fatal, may occur either during therapy with NOVANTRONE® or months to years after termination of therapy. Cardiotoxicity risk increases with cumulative NOVANTRONE dose and may occur whether or not cardiac risk factors are present. Presence or history of cardiovascular disease, radiotherapy to the mediastinal/pericardial area, previous therapy with other anthracyclines or anthracenediones, or use of other cardiotoxic drugs may increase this risk. In cancer patients, the risk of symptomatic CHF was estimated to be 2.6% for patients receiving up to a cumulative dose of 140 mg/m². To mitigate the cardiotoxicity risk with NOVANTRONE, prescribers should consider the following:
All Patients
- All patients should be assessed for cardiac signs and symptoms by history, physical examination, and ECG prior to start of NOVANTRONE® therapy.
- All patients should have baseline quantitative evaluation of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) using appropriate methodology (ex. Echocardiogram, multi-gated radionuclide angiography (MUGA), MRI, etc.).
Multiple Sclerosis Patients
- MS patients with a baseline LVEF below the lower limit of normal should not be treated with NOVANTRONE®.
- MS patients should be assessed for cardiac signs and symptoms by history, physical examination and ECG prior to each dose.
- MS patients should undergo quantitative reevaluation of LVEF prior to each dose using the same methodology that was used to assess baseline LVEF. Additional doses of NOVANTRONE® should not be administered to multiple sclerosis patients who have experienced either a drop in LVEF to below the lower limit of normal or a clinically significant reduction in LVEF during NOVANTRONE® therapy.
- MS patients should not receive a cumulative NOVANTRONE dose greater than 140 mg/m².
- MS patients should undergo yearly quantitative LVEF evaluation after stopping NOVANTRONE to monitor for late occurring cardiotoxicity.
Secondary Leukemia
NOVANTRONE® therapy in patients with MS and in patients with cancer increases the risk of developing secondary acute myeloid leukemia.
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