Temporarily stopping Ibrutinib

[Graham2222]

I have been fortunate enough to be on the fabulous Ibrutinib for just over a year, and it has brought my Lymphocyte count down from 252 to 5.

Now, I require a knee operation early in the New Year, and the IciCLLe trial that I am on requires that I should stop taking ibrutinib for a week before and a week after the operation.

I imagine this will interrupt my otherwise serene progress towards MRD.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar, and can you say by how much your counts jumped and for how long? I appreciate that everyone is different, but it might give me an idea.

Season's greeting to everyone, anyway!

[scottyjean]

My husband is on the trial APC 196 which is the next generation of ibrutinib. He started in March and in may he broke his hip and had to stop the drug for two weeks. His counts did go up but not significantly. He was given antibiotics and gcsf injections for six weeks and he made a very good recovery. I hope you have a similar experience.

[tubbing]

My husband has had to stop his Ibrutinib a couple of times when he's had other problems but his blood result have not been affected (touch wood). As you are more prone to bleeding while while taking Ibrutinib our consultant always advises stopping it for a while for any proceedure. Hope it all goes well with the knee replacment

[Graham2222]

Thank you both for your advice.