Does Obinutuzumab Cause Hair Loss

When To Consult A Physician

• When the hair loss is temporary, for example, after childbirth, illness it is not always necessary to contact a physician.
• In case of chronic hair loss, spot hair loss or hair loss with scarring near the scalp, a check-up and treatment by a physician may be necessary. You can contact us for this at the Dermatology Department.

What Other Drugs Could Interact With This Medication

There may be an interaction between obinutuzumab and any of the following:

• acetylsalicylic acid
• alpha agonists
• amifostine
• angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors
• angiotensin receptor blockers
• anti-psychotics
• apixaban
• barbiturates
• BCG vaccine
• beta-adrenergic blockers
• bortezomib
• calcium channel blockers
• clopidogrel
• diuretics
• echinacea
• low molecular weight heparins
• natalizumab
• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications
• pentoxifylline
• phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors
• pimecrolimus
• selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
• serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors
• tacrolimus
• vaccines
• warfarin

If you are taking any of these medications, speak with your doctor or pharmacist. Depending on your specific circumstances, your doctor may want you to:

• stop taking one of the medications,
• change one of the medications to another,
• change how you are taking one or both of the medications, or
• leave everything as is.

An interaction between two medications does not always mean that you must stop taking one of them. Speak to your doctor about how any drug interactions are being managed or should be managed.

All material copyright MediResource Inc. 1996 â 2021. Terms and conditions of use. The contents herein are for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Source: www.medbroadcast.com/drug/getdrug/Gazyva

Your Course Of Treatment

You usually have a course of several cycles of treatment over a few months. Your nurse, pharmacist or doctor will discuss your treatment plan with you

If you have follicular lymphoma, you might continue to have obinutuzumab on its own after you have finished chemotherapy. This is called maintenance therapy. This can continue for up to 2 years.

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What Should I Discuss With My Healthcare Provider Before Taking Acalabrutinib

You should not use acalabrutinib if you are allergic to it.

To make sure acalabrutinib is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have ever had:

• an active or chronic infection
• a heart rhythm disorder
• bleeding problems or
• hepatitis B .

Taking acalabrutinib may increase your risk of developing other types of cancer, such as skin cancer. Talk to your doctor about this risk and what skin symptoms to watch for.

It is not known whether this medicine will harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

It is not known whether acalabrutinib passes into breast milk or if it could harm a nursing baby. You should not breast-feed while using acalabrutinib, and for at least 2 weeks after your last dose.

Treating Complications Of Cll

One of the most serious complications of CLL is a change of the leukemia to a high-grade or aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma called diffuse large B-cell lymphoma or to Hodgkin lymphoma. This happens in 2% to 10% of CLL cases, and is known as Richter’s transformation. Treatment is often the same as it would be for lymphoma and might include stem cell transplant, because these cases are often hard to treat.

Less often, CLL may progress to prolymphocytic leukemia. As with Richter syndrome, this, too, can be hard to treat. Some studies have suggested that certain drugs such as cladribine and alemtuzumab may be helpful.

In rare patients with CLL, the leukemia transforms into acute lymphocytic leukemia . If this happens, treatment is likely to be similar to that used for patients with ALL.

Acute myeloid leukemia is another rare complication in patients who have been treated for CLL. Drugs such as chlorambucil and cyclophosphamide can damage the DNA of blood-forming cells. These damaged cells may go on to become cancer, leading to AML, which is very aggressive and often hard to treat.

CLL can cause problems with low blood counts and infections. These are discussed in Supportive Care in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

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How Is Obinutuzumab Given

Obinutuzumab is given as an infusion into a vein. A healthcare provider will give you this injection.

Obinutuzumab is given in a 28-day treatment cycle. You may need to use the medicine only on certain days of each cycle. Your doctor will determine how long to treat you with obinutuzumab.

On the days you receive this medicine, plan to spend most of the day at the hospital or infusion clinic.

You may be given other medications to help prevent serious side effects or allergic reaction. Keep using these medicines for as long as your doctor has prescribed.

Obinutuzumab can lower blood cells that help your body fight infections and help your blood to clot. Your blood will need to be tested often. Your cancer treatments may be delayed based on the results of these tests.

If youâve ever had hepatitis B, using obinutuzumab can cause this virus to become active or get worse. You may need frequent liver function tests while using this medicine and for several months after you stop.

Before You Are Given Gazyva

If you are not sure whether you should start taking this medicine, talk to your doctor.

When you must not be given Gazyva

Do not use Gazyva:

• If you have had an allergic reaction to Gazyva or any of the ingredients listed here
• If you have had an allergic reaction to any other proteins that are of mouse origin.
• Some of the symptoms of an allergic reaction may include:
• Shortness of breath
• Swelling of the face, lips, tongue or other parts of the body
• Rash, itching or hives on the skin.

Before you are given Gazyva

Tell your doctor if:

• You have an infection, or a history of a recurring or longterm infection such as Hepatitis B
• You are taking or have previously taken medicines which may affect your immune system, such as chemotherapy or immunosuppressive medicines.
• If you are taking or have taken medicines which affect your immune system, you may have an increased risk of infections. There have been reports of a rare, serious brain infection called PML usually affecting people with a weakened immune system. Your chance of getting PML may be higher if you are treated with medicines that weaken the immune system, including Gazyva. PML can cause severe disability or even death

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What You Need To Know About Immunotherapy Side Effects

In 2003, at age 43, Laura Porter, MD, was in her second year of her residency in her medical training, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She has had recurrences in her ovary, liver, pancreas, and abdominal lymph nodes. In May 2006, she became cancer-free. Since 2005, she has been a patient advocate and medical consultant in the field of colorectal cancer, sharing her survival experience and medical expertise.

For the past 3 years, the American Society of Clinical Oncology has named some form of immunotherapy the Advance of the Year in its annual Clinical Cancer Advances report. This treatment approach has offered many successes in treating different types of cancers. Immunotherapy is exciting, but we also need to be aware of the risks of taking the brakes off the immune system.

Immune checkpoints are proteins that act as brakes on the immune system. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy, target these proteins. Blocking these checkpoints takes the brakes off the immune system and allows it to attack cancer cells. These treatments are at the center of important developments in the treatment of lung cancer, bladder cancer, melanoma, and other types of cancer.

Realizing this, ASCO and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network collaborated to create guidelines to help patients, caregivers, and clinicians recognize, assess, and manage the possible side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors. As a patient advocate, I served on this guideline panel.

Taking Gazyva With Food

You dont need to eat while youre getting your Gazyva infusion. However, your infusion may last many hours. So if you want to bring food or drinks with you, first talk with your doctor. Theyll be able to recommend what you can consume during your infusion appointment.

Gazyva is a targeted treatment. This means it works on specific cells, called B cells, in your body.

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Targeted Drugs And Hair Loss

Hair loss is uncommon in people who are treated with targeted drugs it affects fewer than 15 in 100 people.

Some targeted drugs are a type of immunotherapy treatment, for example antibody therapy. They use your immune system to treat your lymphoma. Fewer than 2 in 100 people treated with immunotherapy are affected by hair loss.

Some targeted drugs work on a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor , which fuels the growth of cancer cells. EGFR is also needed for the normal growth of hair and nails, which is why these drugs can cause changes to your hair and nails.

Targeted drugs might cause:

• the hair on your head to become more thin, dry or curly
• your hair to turn a yellow colour
• hair on your face, including eyelashes and eyebrows, to grow more quickly and thickly.
• mens facial hair growth to slow and eyebrows to thin
• changes to your nails, for example, they might become discoloured, brittle and dry.

When you can expect your hair to grow back depends on the type of targeted treatment you had ask your medical team for guidance.

Chemotherapy And Hair Loss

Hair loss is quite common in people who are treated with chemotherapy overall, around 2 in 3 people experience hair loss.

Chemotherapy kills lymphoma cells, but it can also destroy healthy cells, particularly those that normally divide quickly.

Hair follicles produce hair. They are among the fastest dividing cells in your body, which is why chemotherapy often affects them.

The nails on your fingers and toes might also be affected by chemotherapy. This is because nails contain keratin . Nails grow quickly, making them sensitive to chemotherapy. While youre having treatment, your nails might become dry, marked or discoloured and break easily.

Your medical team will speak to you about the likelihood of hair loss before you begin treatment. As a general guide:

• Chemotherapy regimens using more than one drug are more likely to cause hair loss than treatment with just one drug. Those that are given every 2 to 3 weeks are generally regimens that are more likely to cause hair loss than regimens given every week. If you experience hair loss, its likely to happen by the end of the second cycle.
• High-dose, intravenous chemotherapy is more likely to cause hair loss than low-dose chemotherapy taken as tablets or capsules . Conditioning treatment before a stem cell transplant usually involves high-dose chemotherapy. It can cause quick and complete hair loss, on areas of the body other than just your head.

Hair usually grows back within a few months to a year.

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Will I Need To Take Medication To Prevent Infections While I Use Gazyva

Usually, you wont need to take medication to help prevent infections while youre receiving Gazyva.

But your doctor will be checking your blood levels during your treatment. Its possible that your level of neutrophils may drop too low and stay low for more than 1 week. If this happens, your doctor may have you take medication to prevent viral or fungal infections.

In some cases, your doctor may have you take a granulocyte-colony stimulating factor . This is a medication that helps increase the number of neutrophils in your body. If your neutrophil count gets too low, youre at a higher risk for developing an infection. So by taking a GCSF, you can stimulate your immune system to help prevent you from developing an infection while you receive Gazyva.

Talk with your doctor if you have any questions about medications you should take to help prevent infections during Gazyva treatment. They can also recommend other ways to avoid getting an infection.

Side Effects Of Gazyva

Tell your doctor or nurse as soon as possible if you do not feel well while you are receiving Gazyva.

Gazyva helps most people with CLL, or FL which is no longer responsive to treatment with rituximab, but it may have unwanted side effects in some people.

All medicines can have side effects. Sometimes they are serious, most of the time they are not. You may need medical attention if you get some of the side effects.

If you are over 75 years of age or older or suffer problems with your kidneys you may have an increased chance of getting side effects.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist to answer any questions you may have.

Do not be alarmed by the following lists of side effects.

You may not experience any of them.

During an infusion

Tell your doctor or nurse immediately if you notice any of the following while receiving an infusion:

• Swelling of your face, lips, tongue or throat with difficulty breathing
• Swelling of other parts of your body

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What Other Drugs Will Affect Gazyva

Tell your doctor about all your other medicines, especially:

• a blood thinnerâwarfarin, Coumadin, or

• medicine to treat or prevent blood clotsâcilostazol, clopidogrel, dipyridamole, ticagrelor, ticlopidine, and others.

This list is not complete. Other drugs may interact wth obinutuzumab, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal products. Not all possible drug interactions are listed here.

Herbal Supplements And Eliquis

Certain herbal supplements are known to reduce the effects of Eliquis. St Johns wort can reduce the amount of Eliquis in your system, ultimately making the drug less effective. Therefore, most doctors will recommend you stop taking St Johns wort while you take Eliquis.

Another common herb that could hinder the results from Eliquis is turmeric. Turmeric is a common herbal supplement because of its anti-inflammatory properties. Since several anti-inflammatory medications interact negatively with Eliquis, doctors generally advise patients not to take them while using the drug.

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Can Hair Loss Be Prevented Or Avoided

There is no way to prevent male-pattern baldness because it is a genetic trait, meaning you inherited a gene for baldness from your parents.

Some other causes of excessive hair loss can be prevented. For example, you could prevent hair loss by not styling hair too tightly in a way that puts too much pressure on your scalp. You also can talk to your doctor and avoid taking medications that could cause hair loss.

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