An Introduction to Dosing With Pemetrexed
The dose of
pemetrexed (
Alimta®) your healthcare provider recommends will vary, depending on a number of factors, including:
- Your body surface area, which is calculated using your height and weight
- How you respond to this medication, especially if you develop any serious side effects.
As is always the case, do not adjust your dosage unless your healthcare provider specifically tells you to do so.
Pemetrexed Dosage for Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma
The "500 mg/m2" dosage might look a little odd to people unaccustomed to chemotherapy medication dosing; it basically means that 500 mg of pemetrexed is given for every square meter of body surface area. Your healthcare provider will calculate your body surface area using your height and weight.
If you do not tolerate pemetrexed well, your healthcare provider may need to lower the dosage or perhaps even delay your next treatment.
General Dosage Information
Some considerations to keep in mind when taking pemetrexed include the following:
- Pemetrexed comes as an injection. It is injected slowly (infused) into a vein. Each infusion takes about 10 minutes. In most cases, you will receive one infusion every 21 days.
- You must take folic acid (as recommended by your healthcare provider) for at least 5 out of the 7 days before your pemetrexed infusion and continue until at least 21 days after your last dose.
- You must also receive vitamin B12 injections while taking this medication. You should get your first B12 injection during the week before your first pemetrexed infusion and then once after every three dosages of pemetrexed (usually about once every nine weeks for most people).
- Your healthcare provider may choose to give you a corticosteroid medication, such as dexamethasone, to help prevent skin rashes due to pemetrexed. In most cases, the steroid is taken the day before, the day of, and the day after the infusion.
- If you are unsure about anything related to your dosage or pemetrexed dosing in general, please talk with your doctor, nurse, or pharmacist.
