by Dr Pandula Siribaddana

Created on: October 21, 2010

What is ‘Fludarabine’?

Fludarabine is a cytotoxic or anti-cancer drug and could place in the category of anti-metabolites. Thus, Fludarabine will act on cells which seem to proliferate rapidly by means of interfering with their metabolic processes. Making use of this ability, Fludarabine has been recommended to be used in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma and in other leukemia. But, it can be used for other purposes than what was mentioned and this will depend on the clinical judgment made by your health care providers.

What are the possible side effects of Fludarabine?

As with many other drugs, Fludarabine would also have many different side effects of which some are rather common and mild whereas some could be life threatening and extremely rare. But, rarity does not mean it cannot occur and therefore close vigilance should be maintained during and after treatment with this drug.

Among the common side effects, mild nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea, itching of the skin or a skin rash, headache, feeling of tiredness as well as muscle pains will be topping the list. Although many patients would tolerate Fludarabine rather well, some may develop these side effects which usually will disappear without much of interference. But, if these manifestations persist and causes much discomfort, one should obtain medical advice from their health care provider.

When it comes to serious side effects, allergic reactions have to be considered early although such manifestations would be rather rare. But, in case one develops side effects such as itching of the skin, swelling of the lips, tongue, face and the throat as well as breathing difficulties; these should not be neglected as urgent medical attention should be given to avoid a life threatening event.

Other serious side effects will include manifestations due to low blood cell counts, effects of neurotoxicity and other cytotoxic effects over normal tissue structures.

Infections could be considered as one of the serious as well as relatively common side effect following the use of Fludarabine and manifestations such as fever, chills, body aches, flu like symptoms…etc should prompt the need to seek medical attention rather early. Appearance of easy bruising, bleeding manifestations, black and tarry colored stools, red colored urine as well as coughing of blood stained sputum…etc should point towards a possible bleeding that is taking place and therefore would require urgent medical attention as soon as possible.

Apart from these, numbness and tingling around the mouth, muscle tightness, contraction and hyper reflexia can all point towards a possible neurotoxicity. At the same time, they can also develop manifestations such as drowsiness, mood changes, increase in thirst…etc which also should be included in the manifestations that should be informed to the doctor as soon as possible.

Lastly, it should be mentioned that, this article although provides a comprehensive summarization of Fludarabine related side effects, more detailed information should be obtained by referring to the manufacturer literature in all instances.

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