Description and Brand Names
Drug information provided by: Micromedex
US Brand Name
- Xeloda
Descriptions
Capecitabine is used to help treat patients with Dukes' C colon cancer (colon cancer that has spread to lymph nodes in the area close to the colon), after having surgery. This medicine is also used to treat metastatic colorectal cancer (cancer of the colon or rectum that has spread to other parts of the body).
Capecitabine is also used together with docetaxel to treat metastatic breast cancer (breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body) in patients who have received other medicines (eg, paclitaxel) but did not worked well, or in patients who cannot receive cancer medicines anymore.
Capecitabine belongs to the group of medicines called antineoplastics (cancer medicines). It interferes with the growth of cancer cells, which are eventually destroyed by the body. Since the growth of normal cells may also be affected by the medicine, other side effects may also occur. Some of these may be serious and must be reported to your doctor.
This medicine is available only with your doctor's prescription.
Once a medicine has been approved for marketing for a certain use, experience may show that it is also useful for other medical problems. Although these uses are not included in product labeling, capecitabine is used in certain patients with the following medical conditions:
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Advanced or metastatic stomach cancer (cancer that has spread to other areas of the body), first-line therapy.
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Metastatic colorectal cancer (cancer of the colon or rectum that has spread to other areas of the body), first-line therapy, in combination with bevacizumab and oxaliplatin.
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Gastric cancer (stomach cancer), stage II to IIIB, in combination with oxaliplatin.
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Rectal cancer (cancer of the rectum), locally advanced, adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapy, in combination with radiation therapy.
This product is available in the following dosage forms:
Portions of this document last updated: Dec. 01, 2014
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