I am about to begin chemo with Docetaxel. My Med Onc uses lower dose, more cycles. Will have 50 whatevers (do not yet know the dosage terminology) every 2 weeks for 12 cycles, rather than the more common 75 every 3 weeks for 6 cycles.
Anyone out there been down this road?
I just finished 6 cycles at 75mg/m2 (that's milligrams per meter squared body surface area) For me that worked out 147mg per treatment. There are a lot of possible reasons for why your doctor wants to go with a lower dose per cycle over more cycles. You should still get good results. Good luck with your treatments and keep us posted on your progress.
I did some reading on this and as you would suspect, the side effects are less severe when Docetaxel is administered every 2 weeks at 50mg/m2 vs every 3 weeks at 75mg/m2. There are several articles out there if you want to have a look. Here's an example:
researchgate.net/publicatio...
Thank you gregg57!
Having this knowledge makes me feel much better about what is coming. I have had 5 basically good years but now my cancer is resistant to all drugs (Zytiga, Xtandi, Lynparza, etc.)
Never Give In.
It should be a bit easier on you than it would be if you did the 3 week regimen. I was going to ask you if you were castrate resistant. All the information I found regarding your treatment regimen was for men who were castrate resistant. Have you already done any chemo? Also, what's your age?
This will be my first chemo and I had my 70th bday in May. Dr. Charles "Snuffy" Myers got me my first 5 years with lots of drugs (as I was metastatic at diagnosis) and now it's up to Dr. Oliver Sartor to get me the next 5!
Here's a body surface area calculator if you want to know what your dose will be. You just need height and weight.
halls.md/body-surface-area/...
I found this useful to calculate my actual dose so I know exactly what I'm supposed to be getting. In my case my body surface area is 1.96 meters squared. So for my protocol which is 75mg per meter squared, I multiply 1.96 * 75mg so my dose is 147mg. When they do my infusion they show me the bag with my name on it, the chemo type is on the bag and also my dose. They go over everything before the treatment starts.
In your case you would multiply your body surface area by 50mg to get your dose.
There are a few methods of calculation so if you calculate your number it might be slightly different than your hospital's depending on which formula they use. But your calculation should be close to theirs.
I have just gone through my tenth round of high dose docetaxil & carboplatin. My understnding for the three weeks between treatments is that it gives time for the white blood cells to recover. My neophil numbers go down precipitously reaching a low point midway between treatments and then rise to normal levels at the next treatment. I am not sure what happens to the neophils under low dose but suggest you ask. Many patients use Neulasta to maintain their levels.
I also keep my feet and hands in ice during the periods when the Docetaxel is being infused. This prevents some of the problems which develop with the hands and feet. You might also consider that. The nurses at MSK have special bags that they fill with ice but I have heard of others bring in coolers with ice or frozen peas all of which work. Good luck.
From what I could gather, the suppression of blood counts was better on the 2 week cycle with 2/3 the normal dose. In the study that I read about, there was less risk of neutropenia with the 2 week program. Most of the other risks were also reduced. I also read that this 2 week program is often used for older and/or less fit patients.
My husband had taxotere every 3 weeks in the starting stages in mass ..in fla he was admin taxotere every week at a lower dose ..oncologist thoughts and preferences ..outcome ?? Wish you well
There was a posting here some time ago by Its_Baaack who was being treated by Dr. Robert Liebowitz in Los Angeles with a 1/3 dose every week instead of the full dose every three weeks. If I remember correctly, he reported excellent results with very few side effects.
Alan
Thanks. I will check it out.
On to docetaxel
Abiraterone / Docetaxel
Docetaxel or not?
Docetaxel and deterioration 
