Cancer specialists often prescribe vincristine as part of their patients' anti-cancer regimens. It is part of the family of chemotherapy drugs called plant alkaloids, and it comes from the periwinkle plant. Vincristine fights cancer by preventing DNA production in cancer cells, and by preventing the cancer cells from dividing and thus reproducing. It is also known by the brand name Oncovin.®
Types of Cancer Treated with Vincristine
Oncologists and nurses administer vincristine to patients with blood cancers such as leukemia. particularly acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Vincristine is also commonly used to fight neuroblastomas, a type of cancer that originates in the nerve cells, most often in those of the adrenal gland. Neuroblastomas, incidentally, are one of the most common childhood cancers and can even be diagnosed in a developing fetus. Vincristine is also given to patients with lymphoma, both Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins, and used against a type of kidney cancer called Wilm's tumor. Patients with breast cancer or small-cell lung cancer are sometimes prescribed vincristine as well.
Though patients usually receive vincristine intravenously, this is usually done by administering an ordinary fluid solution such as normal saline, and then injecting the dose of vincristine into a sterile port in the intravenous tubing over the span of one minute. Care must be taken, however, not to inject it via a solution with which it is incompatible, or in conjunction with another incompatible intravenous medication such as furosemide or cefepime. Vincristine does not mix well with the chemotherapy drug idarubicin, either.
Side Effects of Vincristine
One of the most common side effects of vincristine is peripheral neuropathy--nerve damage that shows up as numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. This can be so severe that it can cause foot drop. Fortunately, this neuropathy can often be reversed after the treatment regime has ended. Experts advise that doctors perform a neurological evaluation on patients before each dose of vincristine, and to withhold a dose if the patient is having weakness in his or her arms, legs, hands, or feet.
Hair loss is often common in patients receiving vincristine, and so is constipation. The latter can become so severe that the patient gets a paralytic ileus, in which bowel function shuts down. Many oncologists advise taking stool softeners or even stimulant laxatives while being treated with vincristine. Vincristine is also a vesicant, which means it can destroy healthy tissue surrounding the intravenous administration site if intravenous access has not been correctly achieved. Perhaps most importantly, like other chemotherapy medications in the plant alkaloid family, vincristine is fatal if given intrathecally--i.e., through an epidural or spinal catheter.
Sources:
- Polovich, Martha, Julie M. Whitford, and MiKaela Olsen, eds. Chemotherapy and Biotherapy Guidelines and Recommendations for Practice. Pittsburgh, PA: Oncology Nursing Society, 2009.
- Wilson, Billie, Margaret T. Shannon, and Kelly M. Shields, Prentice Hall Nurse's Drug Guide 2009, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2008.
Elizabeth Thomas - Elizabeth was born and raised in Mt. Clemens, Michigan, though she now lives in a suburb of Austin, Texas. She holds a bachelor's and ...
