Degenerative disease
Spondylosis, or degenerative arthritis of the spine, occurs when the intervertebral disc undergoes degenerative changes, causing the disc to fail at cushioning the vertebrae. There is an association between intervertebral disc space narrowing and lumbar spine pain. The space between the vertebrae becomes more narrow, resulting in compression and irritation of the nerves.Spondylolithesis is the anterior shift of one vertebra compared to the neighboring vertebra. It is associated with age-related degenerative changes as well as trauma and congenital anomalies. Spinal stenosis can occur in cases of severe spondylosis, spondylotheisis and age-associated thickening of the ligamentum flavum. Spinal stenosis involves narrowing of the spinal canal and typically presents in patients greater than 60 years of age. Neurogenic claudication can occur in cases of severe lumbar spinal stenosis and presents with symptoms of pain in the lower back, buttock or leg that is worsened by standing and relieved by sitting. Vertebral compression fractures occur in four percent of patients presenting with lower back pain. Risk factors include age, female gender, history of osteoporosis, and chronic glucocorticoid use. Fractures can occur as a result of trauma but in many cases can be asymptomatic. Infection
Common infectious causes of back pain include osteomyelitis, septic discitis, paraspinal abscess and epidural abscess. Infectious causes that lead to back pain involve various structures surrounding the spine.Osteomyelitis is the bacterial infection of the bone. Vertebral osteomyelitis is most commonly caused by staphylococci. Risk factors include skin infection, urinary tract infection, IV catheter use, IV drug use, previous endocarditis and lung disease.
Pathological complete response (pCR) was observed in 118 participants (45.4%) on the trastuzumab/hyaluronidase arm and in 107 participants (40.7%) receiving intravenous trastuzumab (95% CI for difference in pCR: -4.0; 13.4).SafeHER was a prospective, two-cohort, non-randomized, multinational, open-label trial assessing the overall safety and tolerability of trastuzumab/hyaluronidase with chemotherapy in 1,864 participants with HER2-positive breast cancer. Participants received a fixed dose of 600 mg trastuzumab/hyaluronidase every 3 weeks for 18 cycles. trastuzumab/hyaluronidase was initiated either sequentially with chemotherapy, concurrently with chemotherapy, or without adjuvant chemotherapy, or in combination with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by trastuzumab. References
Further reading
"Application for the addition of Herceptin (trastuzmab) on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines" (PDF). F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. 7 December 2018. External links
"Trastuzumab". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Hyaluronidase". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Trastuzumab and Hyaluronidase-oysk". National Cancer Institute. 14 March 2019. "Trastuzumab and Hyaluronidase-oysk". NCI Drug Dictionary. National Cancer Institute. Clinical trial number NCT00950300 for "A Study to Compare Subcutaneous (SC) Versus Intravenous (IV) Administration of Herceptin (Trastuzumab) in Women With Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (HER) 2-Positive Early Breast Cancer" at ClinicalTrials.gov
Clinical trial number NCT01566721 for "A Safety and Tolerability Study of Assisted and Self-Administered Subcutaneous (SC) Herceptin (Trastuzumab) as Adjuvant Therapy in Early Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-Positive Breast Cancer (SafeHER)" at ClinicalTrials.gov