Chemotherapy regimen
A chemotherapy regimen is a regimen for chemotherapy, defining the drugs to be used, their dosage, the frequency and duration of treatments, and other considerations. In modern oncology, many regimens combine several chemotherapy drugs in combination chemotherapy. The majority of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy are cytostatic, many via cytotoxicity.
A fundamental philosophy of medical oncology, including combination chemotherapy, is that different drugs work through different mechanisms, and that the results of using multiple drugs will be synergistic to some extent. Because they have different dose-limiting adverse effects, they can be given together at full doses in chemotherapy regimens.[1]
The first successful combination chemotherapy was MOPP, introduced in 1963 for lymphomas.
The term "induction regimen" refers to a chemotherapy regimen used for the initial treatment of a disease. A "maintenance regimen" refers to the ongoing use of chemotherapy to reduce the chances of a cancer recurring or to prevent an existing cancer from continuing to grow.[2]
Chemotherapy regimens are often identified by acronyms, identifying the agents used in the drug combination. However, the letters used are not consistent across regimens, and in some cases - for example, "BEACOPP" - the same letter combination is used to represent two different treatments.[3]
There is no widely accepted naming convention or standard for the nomenclature of chemotherapy regimens. For example, either generic or brand names may be used for acronyms. This page merely lists commonly used conventions.
List of chemotherapy regimen acronyms
References
- Mayer, RJ, Targeted therapy for advanced colorectal cancer -- more is not always better, N Engl J Med. 2009;360:623 which is a [possibly critical and not peer reviewed] comment to Chemotherapy, bevacizumab, and cetuximab in metastatic colorectal cancer.
- Cancer.net - Explaining Maintenance Therapy
- BEACOPP chemotherapy regimen
- MVAC Still the ‘Best Treatment’ for Advanced Bladder Cancer Patients. 1999
- "Ovarian Cancer Chemotherapy: Know Your Treatment Options".
- Rodriguez Victorio (1973). "POMP combination chemotherapy of adult acute leukemia". Cancer. 32 (1): 69–75. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(197307)32:1<69::AID-CNCR2820320109>3.0.CO;2-0. PMID 4515259.
- Kiesewetter B, Mayerhoefer ME, Lukas J, Zielinski CC, Müllauer L, Raderer M (2014). "Rituximab plus bendamustine is active in pretreated patients with extragastric marginal zone B cell lymphoma of the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma)". Ann. Hematol. 93 (2): 249–53. doi:10.1007/s00277-013-1865-3. PMID 23925930.
- Treatment of Wilms Tumor at National Cancer Institute. Last Modified: 03/29/2012
- El Weshi, A; Memon, M; Raja, M; Bazarbashi, S; Rahal, M; El Foudeh, M; Pai, C; Allam, A; El Hassan, I; Ezzat, A (October 2004). "VIP (etoposide, ifosfamide, cisplatin) in adult patients with recurrent or refractory Ewing sarcoma family of tumors". American Journal of Clinical Oncology. 27 (5): 529–34. doi:10.1097/01.coc.0000135815.94162.83. PMID 15596925.
- Kosmidis, P; Mylonakis, N; Fountzilas, G; Pavlidis, N; Samantas, E; Karabelis, A; Kattis, K; Skarlos, D (July 1996). "A prospective randomized phase III study in non-small-cell lung cancer comparing cisplatin, ifosfamide, vinblastine (VIP) versus cisplatin, ifosfamide and etoposide (VIP-16). Hellenic Co-Operative Oncology Group". Annals of Oncology. 7 (5): 517–20. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.annonc.a010642. PMID 8839908.