About Avastin & Alzheimer's

Avastin is the brand name for bevacizumab, a medicine used for treating colorectal cancer, lung cancer and advanced brain tumors. This is a medicine with very harsh side effects, including the loss of the body's ability to fight infection. Because Alzheimer's patients tend to wound themselves in accidents, this side effect must be taken into consideration.

Considerations

• People with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a deadly brain tumor, will often act as if they have Alzheimer's. People usually die with a year of diagnosis of GBM. There are promising studies of Avastin helping to prolong the lives of those with GBM (see Resources). Symptoms of both GBM and Alzheimer's include difficulties in communication, difficulty in body control, memory loss and changes in personality.

Effects

• Avastin is used in combination with chemotherapy in treating cancer and GBM. It can cause neutropenia, which is when a person can't make enough white blood cells. Without the white blood cells, the body may not be able to resist any infection it comes into contact with. It also can cause wounds to heal much more slowly and can cause hemorrhaging in the tumor. Avastin has also been known to cause gastrointestinal perforation, which can be deadly.

Function

• Avastin works by cutting off the blood supply to the tumor by greatly slowing down or stopping most of the blood vessels that feed the tumor and make it grow. When the tumor is not fed the blood it needs, then chemotherapy can be more effective in killing the tumor.

Significance

• Caretakers of Alzheimer's patients must be more aware of how serious a wound can be when on Avastin. Taking care of any injuries has to be done immediately. Because of other severe side effects, any Alzheimer's patient with lung, colon or rectal cancer on Avastin has to be supervised closely.

Potential

• Some people with GBM may be misdiagnosed as having Alzheimer's. It is unknown how many people are misdiagnosed with Alzheimer's. In America alone, 10,000 people are known to die from GBM in a year. About 78,000 people are diagnosed with GBM in the world.

  Although Avastin has potentially fatal side effects, especially for accident-prone Alzheimer's patients, it may be better to try the drug rather than let the Alzheimer's patient suffer with lung cancer or colorectal cancer. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.3 million people in the world are diagnosed with lung cancer each year -- whether they also have Alzheimer's or not.

Theories/Speculation

• Avastin's newest use is for treatment of severe breast cancer, which was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Alzheimer's patients with severe breast cancer may be prescribed Avastin with chemotherapy.