FDA Approved Drugs and User Comments: IMBRUVICA

Answer 1

My husband had MCL.  He was prescibed Imbruvica and was on it for about 6-8 months.  He died of a cardiac arrest 6 hours after coming home after having undergone transfusions at the hospital.  I was heartbroken.

Comments

I am very sorry to hear this. The drug was approved by the FDA. The single drug is used in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma who have received at least one treatment and those who have previously received at least one treatment. It's highly recomedded. Of course, any anti-tumor drug has unavoidable side-effect. MCL itself could be life-threatening.

Answer 2

I am very sorry to hear this. The drug was approved by the FDA. The single drug is used in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma who have received at least one treatment and those who have previously received at least one treatment. It's highly recomedded. Of course, any anti-tumor drug has unavoidable side-effect. MCL itself could be life-threatening.

Comments

Thank you for replying Mr. Dobbs.  I realize that MCL has a poor long term survival rate but was rather uninformed and somewhat in denial because I was hoping he would be an exception.  I feel very bad for being so naive and emotional when he needed me to be realistic.  At the time of his passing he was so weak, bruised everywhere and his urine bag was full of blood, and I couldn't figure out why.  I now know from reading more about what was possibly happening.  The doctor told me later that his bone marrow was full of lymphoma cells.  I did read that brain bleeds were a possibility after discontinuation of Imbruvica.  He did discontinue it shortly before his death and asked not to be revived, from what I observed I have a feeling that happened to him in those last moments.  Wonderful man and a physician himself.  He was overprotective of me.  Miss him.  I also read that it can be a genetic mutation and I'm so worried about our 33 year old son.  I'm not sure if I should warn him and cause worry so he can keep on top of this.

Answer 3

Thank you for replying Mr. Dobbs.  I realize that MCL has a poor long term survival rate but was rather uninformed and somewhat in denial because I was hoping he would be an exception.  I feel very bad for being so naive and emotional when he needed me to be realistic.  At the time of his passing he was so weak, bruised everywhere and his urine bag was full of blood, and I couldn't figure out why.  I now know from reading more about what was possibly happening.  The doctor told me later that his bone marrow was full of lymphoma cells.  I did read that brain bleeds were a possibility after discontinuation of Imbruvica.  He did discontinue it shortly before his death and asked not to be revived, from what I observed I have a feeling that happened to him in those last moments.  Wonderful man and a physician himself.  He was overprotective of me.  Miss him.  I also read that it can be a genetic mutation and I'm so worried about our 33 year old son.  I'm not sure if I should warn him and cause worry so he can keep on top of this.

Comments

I'm sorry for you loss, Madam. By reading this I can feel how much you and your husband loved each other. By seeing all the bruise and blood who can stay calm? They say life is a journey, I can see you've had a good one. They may  try to cheer you up, I say time pauses here for as long as you need.

I'm having a similar situation, I had a gene test and it says my son has a super high chance of a type of cancer, and there's no way to prevent it. I'm worried, I take him to get tests every half year, but I don't even know if this will help any.