Cancer and Healthy

ICE chemotherapy treatment is used for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These types of cancer patients need short stay in hospital for ICE treatment. Before starting the treatment blood test is necessary. If your tests are normal then you are fine for the intake of chemotherapy drugs. ICE treatment is mostly given through a thin plastic tube. This tube is inserted into a vein near the collarbone and the skin or through a vein in your arm. Before chemotherapy drugs, some anti sickness drugs are given to patient.

When you are being treated with ICE treatment, the rituximab is given into your cannula as an infusion. Dose of rituximab is given in increasing order because some patients are having an allergic reaction. If patient have reaction then it is necessary to stop the drip and start it again with slower dose. Other drug like Ifosfamide can irritate the bladder lining which cause bleeding and to prevent this we can mix mesna with ifosfamide.

ICE chemotherapy is given in cycles that are repeated for three times. First cycle is started before two days and after giving a drip of rituximab. On the same day other dose will be given, on day three short infusion of etoposide is given and will be repeated for day four. You may also be given a combination of ifosfamide and mesna and you have to finish the cycle on fifth day where the infusions given for third time and after finishing all this, you may go home. You can start your daily injections of drug called G-CSF that help to stimulate the bone marrow to produce white blood cells.

In next schedule of ICE chemotherapy all three chemotherapy drugs that is ifosfamide, etoposide and carboplatin are given. Carboplatin and etoposide are given after an hour while ifosfamide is given after six hours. On day second dose of ifosfamide is given for three times, which lasts for six hours and etoposide last for an hour. After this schedule, there is resting period of 19 days. Every cycle requires 21 days.

In last schedule of ICE chemotherapy an infusion of etoposide is given on first day for an hour. The dose will be repeated on day 2 and day 3. The 24 hour infusion of ifosfamide with mesna will finish and you will get 12 hours mesna on its own. Then there is resting period with no chemotherapy for 25 days. This cycle requires 21 days to complete. After this schedule you may take rest for a period of one week and after that next cycle with the same drugs will be started. Whole course includes 2 to 4 cycles of treatment for 2 to 4 months.