More serious side effects have been experienced in a small percentage of people taking Avastin, including blood clots in a vein, slow wound healing , perforation of the intestines, higher risk of stroke or heart problems , kidney malfunction , and reduced white blood cell count. If you experience any of these serious side effects, your doctor will stop treatment with Avastin. Since Avastin is given with chemotherapy, you may also experience chemotherapy side effects.
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Bevacizumab injection products may cause serious reactions during infusion of the medication. If you experience any of the following symptoms, tell your doctor immediately: difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chills, shaking, sweating, headaches, chest pain, dizziness, feeling faint, flushing, itching, rash, or hives. Your doctor may need to slow down your infusion, or delay or stop your treatment if you experience these or other side effects.
Bevacizumab injection Avastin is also sometimes used to treat wet age-related macular degeneration AMD; an ongoing disease of the eye that causes loss of the ability to see straight ahead and may make it more difficult to read, drive, or perform other daily activities.
Talk to your doctor about the risks of using bevacizumab to treat your condition. This medication may be prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information. If you miss an appointment to receive a dose of a bevacizumab injection product, call your doctor as soon as possible.
Bevacizumab injection products may cause other side effects. Call your doctor if you have any unusual problems while receiving this medication. In case of overdose, call the poison control helpline at If the victim has collapsed, had a seizure, has trouble breathing, or can't be awakened, immediately call emergency services at Keep all appointments with your doctor.
Your doctor will check your blood pressure and test your urine regularly during your treatment with a bevacizumab injection product. It is important for you to keep a written list of all of the prescription and nonprescription over-the-counter medicines you are taking, as well as any products such as vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements. You should bring this list with you each time you visit a doctor or if you are admitted to a hospital.
It is also important information to carry with you in case of emergencies. Bevacizumab Injection pronounced as be va siz' yoo mab. Why is this medication prescribed? How should this medicine be used? The study showed that people taking Avastin with interferon alfa had better overall outcomes than did people taking interferon alfa and the placebo. In particular, half of the people using Avastin with interferon alfa lived for at least In comparison, half of the people using the placebo with interferon alfa went at least 5.
Systemic treatment affects your whole body. Avastin has been found effective for treating liver cancer. In fact, guidelines from the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommend Avastin in combination with atezolizumab as a first-line treatment option for liver cancer. With first-line treatment, Avastin is the first drug used to treat the condition. In addition to the uses listed above, Avastin may be used off-label for other uses.
Below are examples of off-label uses for Avastin. But sometimes the drug is used off-label to treat this condition. AMD causes problems such as blurred vision or a blind spot. Avastin has been used off-label to treat wet AMD. With this condition, your body makes abnormal blood vessels in an area inside your eye that leak fluid into your eye. In fact, one clinical study found that Avastin was as effective as ranibizumab Lucentis in treating wet AMD.
And a review of clinical studies reported that Avastin was similar in safety when compared to Lucentis. Retinal hemorrhage bleeding in your retina is another possible side effect of Avastin. But keep in mind that retinal hemorrhage can also be a symptom of macular edema. Macular edema, which is swelling inside your eye, is related to macular degeneration.
But sometimes the drug is used off-label for this condition. Radiation necrosis is a possible side effect of radiation therapy also called radiotherapy. Radiation therapy is used to treat a variety of cancers, including glioblastomas a type of brain cancer. In a review of clinical studies, Avastin was effective in treating radiation necrosis affecting the brain. But more research is needed to know the appropriate dosage of Avastin for this condition.
And more research is needed to know how long the drug should be used for radiation necrosis. However, in , the FDA withdrew this approval. This program allows drugs that treat serious health conditions and fill unmet medical needs to get approved faster than usual. But when these drugs are approved, the drug manufacturer must still complete follow-up clinical studies to confirm the results of early studies.
In this case, both the Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee and the FDA looked at early study results versus follow-up study results of breast cancer treatment with Avastin.
However, Avastin may still be used off-label for breast cancer treatment. Some clinical studies that looked at Avastin as a breast cancer treatment found that the drug offers some benefit. With diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels in your retina an area inside your eye become damaged from diabetes.
One clinical study found that Avastin improved diabetic retinopathy. Avastin also slowed the disease from worsening in people who took the drug. With endometrial cancer, the lining of your uterus called the endometrium is affected. One clinical study found that Avastin, when used in combination with the chemotherapy drugs paclitaxel and carboplatin, may improve overall survival in people with endometrial cancer. Overall survival describes the length of time that people live after their condition is diagnosed or treatment is started.
However, Avastin used in combination with the chemotherapy drugs ixabepilone and carboplatin did not improve overall survival in people with endometrial cancer.
The study also showed that side effects from Avastin were very common in people with endometrial cancer. But another study showed that Avastin did improve PFS in people with endometrial cancer. Avastin contains the active drug bevacizumab, which is a biologic.
Biologic medications are made from living cells. Biosimilars are similar to a brand-name biologic medication, such as Avastin. Biosimilars are considered to be just as safe and effective as their parent drug.
Avastin can cause mild or serious side effects. The following lists contain some of the key side effects that may occur while taking Avastin. These lists do not include all possible side effects.
For more information on the possible side effects of Avastin, talk with your doctor or pharmacist. They can give you tips on how to deal with any side effects that may be bothersome. Most of these side effects may go away within a few days or a couple of weeks.
Call your doctor right away if you have serious side effects. You may wonder how often certain side effects occur with Avastin. As with most drugs, some people can have an allergic reaction after taking Avastin. A more severe allergic reaction is rare but possible. Symptoms of a severe allergic reaction can include:. Call your doctor right away if you have a severe allergic reaction to Avastin.
And 0. While taking Avastin, you should regularly monitor your blood pressure. If your blood pressure increases, let your doctor know right away.
Some people have dangerously high blood pressure readings while taking Avastin. This condition is known as hypertensive crisis. It occurs when either:. When your blood pressure rises this high, it can cause damage to organs in your body, such as your brain, eyes, heart, or kidneys.
When organ damage occurs, the condition is known as a hypertensive emergency. Hypertensive emergency can be life threatening. You should call if you have any of the following symptoms:.
One clinical study looked at using Avastin for kidney cancer. In this study, people took Avastin with another drug called interferon alfa. Only 8 of the people had blurry vision. In this same study, people took a placebo no active drug along with interferon alfa. None of these people had blurry vision. However, blurry vision can be a sign of other side effects of Avastin. For example, blurry vision can be a symptom of high blood pressure , including dangerously high blood pressure.
Your doctor will recommend whether or not you need medical treatment for your blurry vision. With this condition, you may have peeling and redness of your skin over large areas of your body.
Symptoms of exfoliative dermatitis can also include:. Exfoliative dermatitis is a serious condition that will likely require treatment in a hospital. If you have any symptoms of exfoliative dermatitis, call your doctor right away.
Avastin has caused minor bleeding, such as nosebleeds , in people taking the drug. Avastin has also caused severe bleeding called hemorrhage. In some cases, the bleeding has been fatal.
During clinical studies , severe bleeding that required treatment or hospitalization occurred in 0. In comparison, severe bleeding that required treatment or hospitalization occurred in only 0.
Varices are a possible complication of liver cancer, which Avastin is used to treat. Varices are swollen blood vessels around your esophagus. In some cases, varices may burst and cause severe bleeding. If you have bleeding caused by varices while taking Avastin, your doctor may prescribe another treatment for you.
If you have any symptoms of severe bleeding, call your doctor right away. But if your symptoms feel life threatening, call or have someone take you to the nearest emergency room. Other drugs are available that can treat your condition. Some may be a better fit for you than others. They can tell you about other medications that may work well for you. Note: Some of the drugs listed below are used off-label to treat these specific conditions.
Examples of other drugs that may be used to treat glioblastoma a type of brain cancer include:. Examples of other drugs that may be used to treat ovarian cancer include:.
Examples of other drugs that may be used to treat cervical cancer include:. Examples of other drugs that may be used to treat kidney cancer include:. Examples of other drugs that may be used to treat liver cancer include:. You may wonder how Avastin compares with other medications that are prescribed for similar uses. Here we look at how Avastin and Temodar are alike and different. Bevacizumab belongs to a class of medications known as vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF inhibitors.
Temodar, on the other hand, contains the drug temozolomide. Temodar works to treat cancer by attacking rapidly multiplying cells in your body, which includes cancer cells. Cells that multiply are making more cells.
In addition, Temodar is used off-label to treat recurrent glioblastoma. Temodar comes as capsules that are taken by mouth. Avastin and Temodar have some similar side effects, and others that are different. Below are examples of side effects caused by these medications. These lists contain up to 10 of the most common mild side effects that can occur with Avastin, with Temodar, or with both drugs when taken individually.
These lists contain examples of serious side effects that can occur with Avastin, with Temodar, or with both drugs when taken individually.
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