Hormonal Therapy and Blood Clots

[Ang80]

Mum was diagnosed March 2005 OVCA stage 3, reoccurance 2007 and 2008, each time treated with carbo and taxol. Currently in remission. Dr put her on femera and tamoxifen but since being on tamoxifen she has had 2 DVTs in her right leg. Dr today stopped them and put her on warfrine (sorry about the spelling). Dr thinks she might have to be on this for the rest of her life. Dr also said she expects mums cancer to come back at some point but her cancer is very slow growing.

Could these DVTs be caused by the hormone therapies or can cancer cause these DVTs?

[Conners]

According to my Dr. many women with Ovarian Cancer develop bloot clots. Be glad she is not on Lovenox and having to give herself shots in her tummy daily. For 4 shots, it is $1200, not covered by my insurance. I was in bed so much after Doxil also and should have been wearing the compression socks to prevent blood clots. I have not been on hormone therapy. I am on the shots and Coumadin (Warfarin).

[gah_70]

I developed blood clots after being on chemo for my recurrence. I can't say 100% which chemo was the likely culpret because the Oncologist I had at the time had me on Taxol/Carbo, Topotecan, Gemzar, and Navelbine at different times in a 5 month period.  I was put in ICU with several pulmonary emboli and had a tulip filter placed in my vena cava to prevent further clots from reaching my lungs.  I was put on Warfarin but had to discontinue because it made my INR (clotting time) too high.  I was put on Lovenox subcutaneous injections, then Arixtra subcutaneous injections for about a year after that.  In the meantime, I had Taxotere and Doxil, which did not work, so I went on Femara (I am low grade, too).  Tamoxifen was not even considered for me because there is an indication for blood clots while on it.  Femara does not have that indication, however, the clots kept coming while I was on it.  It also caused severe bone pain.  A little more than a year ago, I switched to Aromasin, and things have dramatically improved.  If her cancer is estrogen receptor positive as well as being slow growing, then the hormone therapies like Femara, Aromasin, Arimidex, etc. seem to be the best choice at the moment.  Those are drugs that were primarily given to post chemo breast cancer patients since breast cancer is usually estrogen related.  The correlation between breast cancer and estrogen related ovarian cancer is being studied, and the theory is if they work for breast cancer patients, they may work for estrogen related ovarian cancer, as well.  For me, Aromasin has kept my cancer stable for the last 9 months.  

I encourage you and your mom to speak to her doctor regarding trying a different Aromatase Inhibiter IF Femara doesn't seem to work for her, or causes side effects.  Not every one will work for every woman, but it's worth a shot to give them a try to see if you can find one that doesn't cause a lot of the unwanted stuff.    

Best wishes to you and your mom!

Gail
    

[shewrites]

Even young people can get DVTs.  It happens, for example, on long airplane rides when people don't get up and move around to keep their circulation going.  

My father-in-law got a DVT when he reduced his exercise level.  They put in a screen to prevent clots from reaching his lungs, and they put him on a blood thinner called Coumadin (which is the same or similar to warfarin, I believe).  He will probably be on the Coumadin the rest of his life.  That's standard procedure, as I understand it.  

I take Evista (raloxifene) to fight osteoporosis.  The box says that it could cause blood clots, so I know it's possible for drugs to be the culprit.  

Just guessing, but I'd say she got the clots from reduced activity or from the drugs she was taking, not directly from the ovca.  You should ask the doctor about that, I guess.  

Good luck to you both.