Vincristine Sulfate Injection
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Vincristine Sulfate Injection
Vincristine Sulfate Injection Side Effects Center
Medical Editor: John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP
Vincristine sulfate injection is a cancer chemotherapy drug used to treat various types of cancer. Vincristine sulfate injection is usually used with other chemotherapy drugs to slow or stop cancer cell growth. The brand name of vincristine sulfate injection is discontinued, but generic versions may be available. Common side effects of vincristine sulfate injection include nausea, vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea, bloating, stomach/abdominal pain or cramps, mouth sores, dizziness, headache, hair loss, constipation, loss of appetite, changes in sense of taste, and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet.
The usual dose of vincristine sulfate injection for pediatric patients is 1.5-2 mg/mē. For pediatric patients weighing 10 kg or less, the starting dose should be 0.05 mg/kg, administered once a week. The usual dose of vincristine sulfate injection for adults is 1.4 mg/mē. Vincristine sulfate injection may interact with digoxin, phenytoin, chemotherapy drugs that contain platinum, aprepitant, cimetidine, St. John's wort, azole antifungals, antibiotics, anti-seizure medicines, belladonna alkaloids, anticholinergic drugs, antispasmodics, and drugs to treat an overactive bladder. Tell your doctor all medications and supplements you use. Vincristine sulfate injection is not recommended for use during pregnancy. It may harm a fetus. Consult your doctor to discuss birth control. It is recommended that men and women use 2 forms of birth control (e.g., condoms, birth control pills) while using this medication and for some time afterwards. If you become pregnant or think you may be pregnant, tell your doctor. It is unknown if this drug passes into breast milk. Because of the possible risk to the infant, breastfeeding while using this drug is not recommended.
Our Vincristine Sulfate Injection Side Effects Drug Center provides a comprehensive view of available drug information on the potential side effects when taking this medication.
This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
What is Patient Information Overview?
A concise overview of the drug for the patient or caregiver from First DataBank.
Nausea, vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea, mouth sores, dizziness, or headache may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly.
This medication can also cause constipation, which in some cases may become serious. Consult your doctor or pharmacist about how you can prevent constipation (such as eating a diet high in fiber, drinking plenty of water). Ask about regularly using a stool softener such as docusate, avoiding bulk-forming laxatives, and choosing a stimulant laxative. Tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly if you develop constipation, stomach/abdominal pain, or bloating.
Temporary hair loss may occur. Normal hair growth should return after treatment has ended.
Many people using this medication have serious side effects. However, your doctor has prescribed this drug because he or she has judged that the benefit to you is greater than the risk of side effects. Careful monitoring by your doctor may decrease your risk.
This medication may lower your ability to fight infections. This may make you more likely to get a serious (rarely fatal) infection or make any infection you have worse. Tell your doctor right away if you have any signs of infection (such as fever, chills, persistent sore throat, cough).
This medication commonly affects the nerves and muscles in your body. Most of these side effects go away after this medication is stopped, however some effects may persist for a long time. Tell your doctor right away if you have any of the following: painful/difficult urination, change in the amount of urine, pain (including in the joints, back, muscles), numbness/tingling/burning/pain of the feet/hands, weakness, difficulty walking, loss of coordination/balance, inability to move your muscles (including the muscles of your face and other parts of your body), drooping eyelids, hoarseness, trouble speaking.
Tell your doctor right away if you have any serious side effects, including: vision/hearing changes, mental/mood changes (such as depression, hallucinations, confusion), easy bleeding/bruising, severe tiredness.
Get medical help right away if you have any very serious side effects, including: seizures, chest/jaw/left arm pain, signs of liver problems (such as dark urine, persistent nausea, vomiting, stomach/abdominal pain, yellowing eyes/skin).
Trouble breathing may infrequently occur with vincristine treatment, especially when it is given with another chemotherapy drug, mitomycin-C. Patients with lung problems may be more sensitive to this side effect. Long-term treatment of this side effect may be required if it worsens. This effect may occur within minutes to several hours after vincristine is given and up to 2 weeks after the dose of mitomycin-C. Get medical help right away if you have shortness of breath or coughing. If you have this reaction, you should not receive vincristine again.
A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, get medical help right away if you notice any of the following symptoms of a serious allergic reaction: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing.
This is not a complete list of possible side effects. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.
In the US -
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
In Canada - Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to Health Canada at 1-866-234-2345.
Read the entire patient information overview for Vincristine Sulfate Injection (Vincristine Sulfate)
What is Prescribing information?
The FDA package insert formatted in easy-to-find categories for health professionals and clinicians.
Vincristine Sulfate Injection FDA Prescribing Information: Side Effects
Prior to the use of this drug, patients and/or their parents/guardian should be advised of the possibility of untoward symptoms.
When single, weekly doses of the drug are employed, the adverse reactions of leukopenia, neuritic pain, and constipation occur but are usually of short duration (ie., less than 7 days). When the dosage is reduced, these reactions may lessen or disappear. The severity of such reactions seems to increase when the calculated amount of drug is given in divided doses. Other adverse reactions, such as hair loss, sensory loss, paresthesia, difficulty in walking, slapping gait, loss of deep-tendon reflexes, and muscle wasting, may persist for at least as long as therapy is continued. Generalized sensorimotor dysfunction may become progressively more severe with continued treatment. Although most such symptoms usually disappear by about the sixth week after discontinuance of treatment, some neuromuscular difficulties may persist for prolonged periods in some patients. Regrowth of hair may occur while maintenance therapy walking, slapping gait, loss of deep-tendon reflexes, and muscle wasting, may persist for at least as long as therapy is continued. Generalized sensorimotor dysfunction may become progressively more severe with continued treatment.
Although most such symptoms usually disappear by about the sixth week after discontinuance of treatment, some neuromuscular difficulties may persist for prolonged periods in some patients. Regrowth of hair may occur while maintenance therapy continues.
The following adverse reactions have been reported:
Hepatic veno-occlusive disease has been reported in patients receiving vincristine, particularly in pediatric patients, as part of standard combination chemotherapy regimens. Some of the patients had fatal outcomes; some who survived had undergone liver transplantation.
Hypersensitivity - Rare cases of allergic-type reactions, such as anaphylaxis, rash and edema, that are temporally related to vincristine therapy have been reported in patients receiving vincristine as a part of multidrug chemotherapy regimens.
Gastrointestinal - Constipation, abdominal cramps, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, oral ulceration, diarrhea, paralytic ileus, intestinal necrosis and/or perforation, and anorexia have occurred. Constipation may take the form of upper-colon impaction, and, on physical examination, the rectum may be empty. Colicky abdominal pain coupled with an empty rectum may mislead the physician. A flat film of the abdomen is useful in demonstrating this condition. All cases have responded to high enemas and laxatives. A routine prophylactic regimen against constipation is recommended for all patients receiving vincristine sulfate injection (vincristine sulfate) . Paralytic ileus (which mimics the “surgical abdomen”) may occur, particularly in young pediatric patients. The ileus will reverse itself with temporary discontinuance of vincristine sulfate injection (vincristine sulfate) and with symptomatic care.
Genitourinary-Polyuria, dysuria, and urinary retention due to bladder atony have occurred. Other drugs known to cause urinary retention (particularly in the elderly) should, if possible, be discontinued for the first few days following administration of vincristine sulfate injection (vincristine sulfate) .
Cardiovascular - Hypertension and hypotension have occurred. Chemotherapy combinations that have included vincristine sulfate, when given to patients previously treated with mediastinal radiation, have been associated with coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction. Causality has not been established.
Neurologic - Frequently, there is a sequence to the development of neuromuscular side effects. Initially, only sensory impairment and paresthesia may be encountered. With continued treatment, neuritic pain and, later, motor difficulties may occur. There have been no reports of any agent that can reverse the neuromuscular manifestations that may accompany therapy with vincristine sulfate.
Loss of deep-tendon reflexes, foot drop, ataxia, and paralysis have been reported with continued administration. Cranial nerve manifestations, such as isolated paresis and/or paralysis of muscles controlled by cranial motor nerves including potentially life-threatening bilateral vocal cord paralysis, may occur in the absence of motor impairment elsewhere; extraocular and laryngeal muscles are those most commonly involved. Jaw pain, pharyngeal pain, parotid gland pain, bone pain, back pain, limb pain, and myalgias have been reported; pain in these areas may be severe. Convulsions, frequently with hypertension, have been reported in a few patients receiving vincristine sulfate. Several instances of convulsions followed by coma have been reported in pediatric patients. Transient cortical blindness and optic atrophy with blindness have been reported. Treatment with vinca alkaloids has resulted in both vestibular and auditory damage to the eighth cranial nerve. Manifestations include partial or total deafness which may be temporary or permanent, and difficulties with balance including dizziness, nystagmus, and vertigo. Particular caution is warranted when vincristine is used in combination with other agents known to be ototoxic such as the platinum-containing oncolytics.
Pulmonary - See PRECAUTIONS.
Endocrine - Rare occurrences of a syndrome attributable to inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion have been observed in patients treated with vincristine sulfate. This syndrome is characterized by high urinary sodium excretion in the presence of hyponatremia; renal or adrenal disease, hypotension, dehydration, azotemia, and clinical edema are absent. With fluid deprivation, improvement occurs in the hyponatremia and in the renal loss of sodium.
Hematologic - Vincristine sulfate injection (vincristine sulfate) does not appear to have any constant or significant effect on platelets or red blood cells. Serious bone-marrow depression is usually not a major dose-limiting event. However, anemia, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia have been reported. Thrombocytopenia, if present when therapy with vincristine sulfate injection (vincristine sulfate) is begun, may actually improve before the appearance of bone marrow remission.
Skin - Alopecia and rash have been reported.
Other - Fever and headache have occurred.
Read the entire FDA prescribing information for Vincristine Sulfate Injection (Vincristine Sulfate)
Additional Vincristine Sulfate Injection Information
Vincristine Sulfate Injection - User Reviews
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