Oncura

Trabectedin (Yondelis): what to expect, day by day

Sarcoma - Soft Tissue21-day cycle6 effects documented

A targeted chemo given through a central line over 24 hours every 3 weeks. You'll get a steroid beforehand to protect the liver. The team checks liver tests and a muscle enzyme (CPK) before each dose — report severe muscle pain/weakness or dark urine. Lowered blood counts, nausea, and tiredness are common.

Trabectedin given as a 24-hour infusion through a central line every 3 weeks (for leiomyosarcoma/liposarcoma). A steroid is given before each dose to protect the liver and reduce nausea. Two signature things are monitored on bloodwork before every dose: liver tests (transaminases) and a muscle enzyme (CPK, for a rare muscle-breakdown risk). Blood-count drops are nadir-based.

Get help straight away — this is true on any regimen, on any day.

A temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher during treatment can mean a serious infection while your blood counts are low. Call your team or go to the ER — do not wait it out.

Also urgent: trouble breathing or chest pain · swelling of the face, lips or throat · new confusion or fainting · shaking chills · not being able to keep fluids down.

This is standing guidance shown to everyone. Nothing on this page is based on anything about you, and nobody is monitoring you.

Timed to the cycle

No effect in this record carries a day window that a retrievable document supports for this regimen. That is a gap in the evidence, not a sign that nothing happens — the effects below are still what is reported.

Not tied to a cycle day

These build with the number of doses, or are measured from when treatment started, so a cycle day would be the wrong shape for them. Each keeps the timing its own source states.

Elevated liver enzymes (hepatotoxicity)

over days; usually transient, recovers between doses

Rises in liver blood tests are very common but usually temporary — they peak and then recover between doses. A steroid before each dose reduces this. Your team checks liver tests before every dose and adjusts if needed. Report yellowing of skin/eyes or belly pain.

Call your team: Yellowing of skin/eyes, dark urine, or severe belly pain.

reported by about 90 (ALT) / 84 (AST)% of people; severe in 31% · from Trabectedin

Muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis / raised CPK)

any time; often later cycles

A serious but uncommon risk: breakdown of muscle tissue, seen as a rise in the enzyme CPK, which can harm the kidneys. Your team checks CPK before each dose. Report severe or unexplained muscle pain, weakness, or dark (tea-colored) urine right away.

Call your team urgently: Severe muscle pain/weakness or dark (tea-colored) urine — contact your team urgently.

reported by about 33% (raised CPK) of people; severe in 6.4% · from Trabectedin

Neutropenia

A temporary drop in infection-fighting white cells. Counts are checked before each dose.

Call your team urgently: A temperature of 100.4°F (38.0°C) or higher — an emergency.

reported by about 66% of people; severe in 43% · from Trabectedin

Nausea and vomiting

Sickness in the first 24 hours is the "acute" phase and usually peaks 2-3 hours in; anything from 24 to 120 hours is the "delayed" phase.

Common; the steroid and anti-nausea medicine given before treatment help. It can last a few days.

Call your team: Can't keep fluids down for more than 12 hours.

reported by about 75 (nausea) / 46 (vomiting)% of people · Timing from a clinical guideline · from Trabectedin

Anemia and low platelets

Drops in red cells (tiredness, breathlessness) and platelets (bruising, bleeding).

Call your team: New breathlessness, or bleeding that won't stop / black stools.

reported by about 96 (anemia) / 59 (platelets)% of people; severe in 19 / 21% · from Trabectedin

Fatigue

Tiredness in the days-to-weeks after each dose. Pace activities and rest.

reported by about 69% of people · from Trabectedin

Where this comes from

  1. S1. Demetri GD, ET743-SAR-3007 (trabectedin, soft-tissue sarcoma, n=378) (2016) — PMID 26371143
  2. S2. Trabectedin (Yondelis) FDA prescribing information — FDA label

Timing windows on this page rest on:

A window appears here only where a retrievable document ties it to a drug in this regimen. Where nothing could be found, the window was removed rather than estimated — so a missing time is an honest gap, not an oversight.

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