Panitumumab

Hi my husband had an emergency op in January had no symptoms but turned out it was a cancerous tumour in his bowel. All test afterwards showed no signs of any other cancer, all lymph nodes clears, major organs clear. No follow up precautionary chemo given and then Coevid. In August at a routine appointment to talk about reversal of colostomy we where told that it had spread to his lung, we were floored. It is not a cluster and too small for a biopsy so he has started 6 sessions of Chemo initially and they introduced Panitumumab on the second session. His skin has erupted and his head is really sore, preventing him sleeping.

The hospital have been great and he has today started antibiotics and steroid cream and had his third session of Chemo put back a week. I just wanted to know has anybody had ant positive results being on PAN as before he started this he was really well and eating, sleeping and active as normal? 

  • Hello Grajan, 

    Welcome to Cancer Chat! I can completely understand why you were shocked when you found out that your husband's cancer had spread to his lung when after his emergency operation everything showed as being clear. I am sorry to hear that he seems to have suffered side effects after starting on Panitumumab. I am glad that the hospital has been so helpful and I hope that the antibiotics and steroid cream do the trick so that he can resume his third session of chemotherapy. 

    You might be interested in reading our information on Panitumumab which will also give you a list of possible side effects encountered and it does mention that skin reactions are very common. I hope that you will also hear from others who have been on panitumumab before. I thought I would mention one of our members, [@Andy212]‍ who mentioned in his reply on this thread that he was also going to soon start Panitumumab (this drug's name is a bit of a mouthful isn't it?). You can read Andy212's story here

     Do talk to his medical team if you notice any adverse effects as they will I am sure have good tips to help him manage these. It might be worth flagging with them too if you haven't done so already that he is having issues sleeping as a result of all this. 

    I hope that your husband's treatment goes well and that these side effects will quickly subside. If there is anything you want to talk about, our nurse helpline is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and you can give them a call on this free number 0808 800 4040. 

    Best wishes, 

    Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator