docetaxel dosing

[Juju0713]

Hello, can anyone tell me if this looks like a “normal” dosing of docetaxel? The reason I am asking is I have been reading the typical dose in prostate cancer is 75 mg/m2 every 3 weeks. I just want to confirm if there is a conversion factor to m2 I am missing here since it does say “200mg”, thank you

[tango65]

The dose depend on your body surface area, which depends on weight and height.

omnicalculator.com/health/bsa

[Juju0713 in reply to tango65]

thank you, the reason I was curious is my dad has had a reaction of severe burning/blistering on his palms and soles that started after his 2nd infusion. His oncologist reduced his dose by 60% at his last infusion and told him if it happened again at the reduced dose they would have to d/c the infusions (which it has occurred again after the 3rd). His oncologist said it was only the 2nd time she had seen a reaction as severe as that in her 12 years of practice

[tango65 in reply to Juju0713]

It seems the total dose was 200. Calculate his surface area and check if they followed what the Dr ordered.

[EdBacon]

The normal dose is 75mg per square meter of body surface area so you can use the calculator linked above and multiply the number by 75. For a 200mg dose, the patient would need to have 2.67 square meters of body surface area.

[Juju0713]

thank you both, I just did the calculation (my dad is 69 inches and 208 lbs and that comes out to a BSA of 2.1) which would mean the initial dose should have been around 157mg, I am confused as to why they gave him 200mg initially and wondering if that has anything to do with the reaction in his hands and feet

[EdBacon in reply to Juju0713]

Can you let us know what the response is? I'd like to know what they say.

My first thought when I saw the dose was: must a be a big guy. My dose was 146mg, that's more typical.

[Juju0713 in reply to EdBacon]

my dad did already ask her about the dosing as I thought it seemed high based on what I was reading even before calculating using above, he said her response was that the dose is calculated based on weight and height, which it appears to me the dose was still high based on that, so I’m really unsure at this point. Using that calculation it appears he was getting more like 100mg/m2 initially

[EdBacon in reply to Juju0713]

I would just refer to the manufacturer's prescribing sheet linked below. It has all the details about doses for various types of cancers along with steroids and doses to be used:

accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatf...

[Juju0713 in reply to EdBacon]

thank you

[EdBacon in reply to Juju0713]

Did you ever get any clarification on how they came up with the 200mg dose?

[Juju0713 in reply to EdBacon]

no, I really didn’t because they went ahead and decreased the dose by 60% due to his side effects

[Doseydoe]

Seems about right my dose was 150mg in 277ml