Taxol is most commonly used in combination with other chemotherapy drugs such as: 5-FU, Adriamycin, Vinorelbine, Cytoxan and Cisplatinum.

Ovarian Cancer

This disease is much more common in women over age 50 and after menopause. Approximately 25,000 American women develop this illness and 14,000 die as a result of it each year.

Taxol is indicated for use in the treatment of ovarian cancer that has spread beyond the ovaries (metastasized) and is not responsive to other types of chemotherapy drugs.  

Clinical trials have shown that Taxol is effective in women who have failed initial or subsequent chemotherapy for metastatic ovarian cancer, including those who have developed resistance to platinum-containing therapy. Ongoing clinical trials are evaluating the efficacy of Taxol when used in combination with other agents for various stages of the disease. 

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among women.

Taxol is currently approved for use in the treatment of breast cancer under certain circumstances. You may be given Taxol if your cancer has spread beyond the breast (metastasized) and a combination of other chemotherapy drugs is not effective for you. You may also be given Taxol if you suffer a relapse of breast cancer within six months of receiving adjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy that was administered as an added therapy following surgery). In either case, you should have received a chemotherapy drug known as an anthracycline unless you were unable to take it for some reason.  

Clinical trials have shown Taxol to be effective in treating breast cancer under these circumstances and the Food and Drug Administration has approved Taxol for these uses. However, Taxol is currently being investigated to determine additional indications where it may be effective and it may be possible to receive Taxol as part of such a trial.

Kaposi's Sarcoma

Taxol is indicated for the second-line treatment of AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma. You may receive Taxol if you have not responded to, or couldn't tolerate, other agents used as first-line therapy.  

Two clinical trials have shown that under these circumstances, Taxol produced clinical benefit in 59% of treated patients, who experienced a flattening of more than half of their lesions. Some patients with disease affecting their lungs also experienced improvement in lung function. Some patients with Kaposi's sarcoma of the feet experienced improvement in mobility and improvement in ulcers on their feet, in addition to pain relief. Some patients in which the disease affected the face, extremities, and genitalia experienced a resolution of lesions and swelling in these areas.

Head and Neck Cancers

Head and Neck cancers refer to a diverse group of cancers that involve this region of the body with exclusion of cancers of thyroid gland, skin, lymph glands and brain. Roughly 13,000 Americans develop these cancers every year. They are more common in men than in women. Smoking and Tabacco use, along with alcohol, impose a great risk on individuals to develop these cancers. Most of these cancers origin from the tissues that line the airways in nostrils, salivary glands and throat, as well as inside the mouth, gums, tongue and upper part of esophagus.

Most patients are treated with a combination of Surgery, Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy. Surgery is most appropriate for patients with very early stages of a disease, specially when the location of cancer makes it easy to operate. Aggressive surgery could lead into loss of voice as well as severe disfigurement of the patients. Preservation of voice has to be kept in mind at all times. 

Even for patients with more advanced disease, combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy could still cure a good percentage of patients. Certain cancers, i.e. Nasopharyngeal tumors ( located deep and high in the back of airways) are almost never treated with surgery. 

Most patients are treated with a combination of 5-FU,Taxol and  Cisplatinum. This regimen has become standard for majority of head and neck cancers. 5-FU is given as a continuos infusion over 4-5 days and Cisplatinum is given in one dose on day one of a 28 days cycle. The same regimen is repeated every 4 weeks. Patients benefit from having a Port-A-Cath for administration of chemotherapy.

Lung Cancer(Non-Small Cell Cancer)

Lung cancer is the second most common malignancy affecting both sexes. Roughly 170,000 Americans are diagnosed with this illness ever year. It is considered the mostrapidly increasing cause of death from cancer. Since 1987, lung cancer has been the leading cause of cancer  death in women, surpassing breast cancer. And while lung cancer incidence has leveled off among men, it continues to rise steadily among women. The average age of patients with lung cancer is 60 years. It is more common in African-Americans and Hawaiians.

The most effective chemotherapy drugs used to treat this condition are VP-16 , Carboplatinum , Cisplatinum, Taxol and Vinorelbine. If the disease does not respond to these drugs, there are other drugs that may be used. Radiation therapy may be administered at the same time as Chemotherapy, or after completion of Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is normally given every three to four weeks, for a period of at least six months.