Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Methotrexate was originally developed and continues to be used for chemotherapy, either alone or in combination with other agents.It is effective for the treatment of several cancers, including solid tumours of breast, head and neck, lung, bladder, as well as acute lymphocytic leukemias, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, osteosarcoma, and choriocarcinoma and other trophoblastic neoplasms.
Low doses of methotrexate can deplete folate stores and cause side-effects that are similar to folate deficiency. Both high-folate diets and supplemental folic acid may help reduce the toxic side-effects of low-dose methotrexate without decreasing its effectiveness.
Leukoencephalopathy can develop from long-term treatment of methotrexate even at low doses. In contrast to intravenous methotrexate for cancer patients, leukoencephalopathy induced by orally taken methotrexate may be associated with cognitive dysfunction and even death. [citation needed]
[1] [4] Intravenous injection requires a direct injection of high-dose MTX into a patient’s vein; [4] Intrathecal injection, i.e. injection of the drug into the intrathecal space holding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), is either administered via the Ommaya reservoir, an implanted container passing fluid into the brain, or by lumbar puncture.
Methotrexate inhibits cell division and is particularly toxic to fast dividing cells, such as rapidly dividing cancer cells and the progenitor cells of the immune system. Folate supplementation is beneficial in patients being treated with long-term, low-dose methotrexate for inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or ...
Discover the latest breaking news in the U.S. and around the world — politics, weather, entertainment, lifestyle, finance, sports and much more.
Folinic acid, also known as leucovorin, is a medication used to decrease the toxic effects of methotrexate and pyrimethamine. [2] [3] It is also used in combination with 5-fluorouracil to treat colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer, may be used to treat folate deficiency that results in anemia, and methanol poisoning.
In conventional chemotherapy, a dose close to the maximum tolerated dose is administered in a bolus manner to achieve cytotoxic effects on tumor cells. [5] However, the side effects are often significant as the cytotoxic agents also kill the fast-dividing cells normally present in the body, such as bone marrow cells and epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal tract. [6]