Details

Epirubicin is a cancer medication that interferes with the growth and spread of cancer cells in the body. Epirubicin is used to treat breast cancer. Epirubicin may cause dangerous effects on your heart. Epirubicin can lower blood cells that help your body fight infections and help your blood to clot. You may get an infection or bleed more easily. To make sure epirubicin is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney disease bone marrow suppression heart disease or if you have been treated before with doxorubicin, daunorubicin, epirubicin, idarubicin, or mitoxantrone.

Typical Uses

Epirubicin is used to treat breast cancer. It belongs to a class of drugs known as anthracyclines and works by slowing or stopping the growth of cancer cells. Epirubicin may also be used to treat other cancers (such as bone cancer).

Side Effects

Some of the side effects of epirubicin include feeling short of breath, even with mild exertion swelling, rapid weight gain (especially in your face and midsection) irritation or skin changes where the injection was given nausea, upper stomach pain, itching, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-coloured stools, jaundice (yellowing of the skin or eyes) fast, slow, or uneven heartbeats anxiety, sweating, severe shortness of breath, wheezing, gasping for breath chest pain, sudden cough, cough with foamy mucus, rapid breathing, coughing up blood lower back pain, blood in your urine, little or no urinating numbness or tingly feeling around your mouth, weak pulse, overactive reflexes, confusion, fainting muscle weakness, tightness, or contraction fever, chills, body aches, flu symptoms, sores in your mouth and throat or pale skin, easy bruising, unusual bleeding (nose, mouth, vagina, or rectum), purple or red pinpoint spots under your skin.

Drug Interactions

• Epirubicin+adalimumab- Using adalimumab together with epirubicin may increase the risk of serious and potentially life-threatening infections. Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns.

• Epirubicin+BCG- If you are currently being treated or have recently been treated with epirubicin, you should talk to your doctor before receiving BCG. Depending on the dose and length of time you have been on epirubicin, you may be at risk for developing an infection from the vaccine or have a reduced response to the vaccine. In some situations, your doctor may want to delay vaccination to give your body time to recover from the effects of epirubicin therapy.

• Epirubicin+clozapine- Using clozapine together with epirubicin is not recommended. Combining these medications may increase the risk of a rare but serious and potentially fatal disorder called agranulocytosis that affects white blood cells, as well as a type of irregular heart rhythm that may be life-threatening in severe cases.

• Epirubicin+fingolimod- Before starting fingolimod, let your doctor know if you are currently receiving treatment with epirubicin. Using fingolimod in this situation can increase the risk of an irregular heart rhythm that may be serious or life-threatening. This is most likely to occur early on after you start treatment with fingolimod, especially within the first 20 hours after the first dose. On the other hand, it may be alright for you to use these medications together if you have been stable on fingolimod therapy for over a month while you start treatment with epirubicin.

Mechanism of action

Epirubicin belongs to a class of medicines known as anthracyclines. It works by slowing or stopping the growth of cancer cells in the body.

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