Dacarbazine (patient information)

IMPORTANT WARNING

Dacarbazine can cause a decrease in the number of blood cells in your bone marrow. Dacarbazine also can cause severe liver damage. You should know that dacarbazine has been associated with the development of other types of cancers. Talk with your doctor about the potential risk of developing a new cancer. Your doctor will order certain lab tests to check your response to dacarbazine.

About your treatment

Your doctor has ordered the drug dacarbazine to help treat your illness. The drug is given by injection into a vein.

This medication is used to treat:

• melanoma
• Hodgkin's disease

This medication is sometimes prescribed for other uses; ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Dacarbazine slows or stops the growth of cancer cells in your body. The length of treatment depends on the types of drugs you are taking, how well your body responds to them, and the type of cancer you have.

Other uses for this medicine

Dacarbazine is also used to treat soft-tissue sarcomas such as leiomyosarcoma, fibrosarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma; neuroblastomas; and malignant glucagonoma. Talk to your doctor about the possible risks of using this drug for your condition.

Precautions

Before taking dacarbazine:

• tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to dacarbazine or any other drugs.
• tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications you are taking, especially aspirin and vitamins.
• tell your doctor if you have or have ever had liver disease.
• you should know that dacarbazine may interfere with the normal menstrual cycle (period) in women and may stop sperm production in men. However, you should not assume that you cannot get pregnant or that you cannot get someone else pregnant. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should tell their doctors before they begin taking this drug. You should not plan to have children while receiving chemotherapy or for a while after treatments. (Talk to your doctor for further details.) Use a reliable method of birth control to prevent pregnancy. Dacarbazine may harm the fetus.
• do not have any vaccinations (e.g., measles or flu shots) without talking to your doctor.

Side effects

Minor side effects

Side effects from dacarbazine are common and include:

• nausea and vomiting
• loss of appetite
• flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, weakness, muscle aches, headache, and stuffy nose within 7 days of treatment

Tell your doctor if the following symptom is severe or lasts for several hours:

• fatigue

Severe side effects

If you experience any of the following symptoms, call your doctor immediately:

• unusual bruising or bleeding
• pain at the injection site
• tingling, burning sensation while the drug is being administered
• cough
• sore throat
• dizziness

If you experience a serious side effect, you or your doctor may send a report to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program online [at http://www.fda.gov/MedWatch/report.htm] or by phone [1-800-332-1088].

In case of emergency/overdose

In case of overdose, call your local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222. If the victim has collapsed or is not breathing, call local emergency services at 911.

Brand names

• DTIC-Dome®

Other names

• DTIC