Last update May 11, 2019
Limited compatibility
We do not have alternatives for Temozolomide.
Suggestions made at e-lactancia are done by APILAM team of health professionals, and are based on updated scientific publications. It is not intended to replace the relationship you have with your doctor but to compound it. The pharmaceutical industry contraindicates breastfeeding, mistakenly and without scientific reasons, in most of the drug data sheets.
Your contribution is essential for this service to continue to exist. We need the generosity of people like you who believe in the benefits of breastfeeding.
Thank you for helping to protect and promote breastfeeding.
Temozolomide is also known as
Temozolomide in other languages or writings:
Temozolomide belongs to this group or family:
Main tradenames from several countries containing Temozolomide in its composition:
Variable | Value | Unit |
---|---|---|
Oral Bioavail. | 100 | % |
Molecular weight | 194 | daltons |
Protein Binding | 10 - 20 | % |
VD | 0.4 | l/Kg |
pKa | 10.5 | - |
Tmax | 0.5 - 1.5 | hours |
T½ | 1.8 | hours |
Write us at elactancia.org@gmail.com
e-lactancia is a resource recommended by Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine - 2015 of United States of America
Would you like to recommend the use of e-lactancia? Write to us at corporate mail of APILAM
It is a prodrug of MTIC, the active metabolite of dacarbazine, which acts as an alkylating agent and is used in the treatment of malignant melanomas and gliomas.
It is administered orally or intravenously every 24 hours for 5 days in cycles every 28 days. In the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme it is administered in an initial phase together with radiotherapy daily for 42 days.
Since the last update we have not found any published data on its excretion in breast milk.
Pharmacokinetics show that after 3 elimination half-lives (T½) 87.5% of the drug is eliminated from the body; after 4 T½ it is 94%, after 5 T½, 96.9%, after 6 T½, 98.4% and after 7 T½ it is 99%. From 7 T½ the plasmatic concentrations of drug in the body are negligible. In general, a period of at least five half-lives can be considered a safe waiting period before breastfeeding again (Anderson 2016).
Taking the longest published T½ of all the active metabolites (xxx hours) as a reference, these 5 T½ would correspond to 9 hours. Due to major side effects, it would be advisable to wait 7 T½, which would correspond to 13 hours. Meanwhile, express and discard milk from the breast regularly to maintain production.
When it is possible to do so, milk detections of each patient to determine the total elimination of the drug would be the best indicator to resume breastfeeding between two cycles of chemotherapy.
During the treatment of cancer, breastfeeding should be interrupted temporarily due to potentially serious side effects for the infant. Chemotherapy does not affect milk production during or after treatment.
Abrupt weaning can be psychologically traumatic for both the mother and the infant (Pistilli 2013). If the mother wishes, the production of milk can be maintained by regularly expressing milk from the breast, being able to return to breastfeeding in the periods in which no significant traces of the drug remain in the milk (Anderson 2016) or at the end of the treatment (Pistilli 2013).
Some chemotherapeutic agents with an antibiotic effect can alter the composition of the microbiota (bacterial set or bacterial flora) of the milk and the concentration of some of its components (Urbaniak 2014). This possibly occurs temporarily with subsequent recovery, although no harmful effects are assumed or have been reported in breastfed infants.
Women undergoing chemotherapy during pregnancy have lower rates of breastfeeding due to difficulties in breastfeeding (Stopenski 2017), needing more support to achieve it.
Given the strong evidence that exists regarding the benefits of breastfeeding for the development of babies and the health of mothers, it is advisable to evaluate the risk-benefit of any maternal treatment, including chemotherapy, individually advising each mother who wishes to continue with breastfeeding (Koren 2013).
See below the information of this related product: