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Helpful Resources

This section provides a series of additional resources to help you and your family stay informed. For caregivers there is a brochure designed to provide background information on colorectal cancer, treatment options, and some of the side effects that may occur with cancer therapy. This section also contains useful links to other relevant web sites and information regarding clinical trials.

In this section:

Indications & Usage

AVASTIN®, in combination with intravenous 5-fluorouracil–based chemotherapy, is indicated for first- or second-line treatment of patients with metastatic carcinoma of the colon or rectum.

Important Safety Information

Gastrointestinal (GI) perforation: Treatment with Avastin can result in the development of a potentially serious side effect called GI perforation. In clinical trials, these events occurred throughout the course of treatment and in some cases resulted in fatality. Avastin therapy should be permanently stopped in people with GI perforation.

Wound healing complication: Treatment with Avastin can lead to slow or incomplete wound healing (for example, when a surgical incision has trouble healing or staying closed). In some cases, this event resulted in fatality. Avastin therapy should be permanently stopped in patients with wound healing complications that require medical treatment. The appropriate waiting time between stopping treatment with Avastin and having surgery has not been determined.

Hemorrhage: Some people receiving Avastin with chemotherapy for lung cancer experienced hemoptysis (a severe bleeding problem at the site of the tumor). In some cases, this event resulted in fatality. People with recent hemoptysis should not receive Avastin.

In clinical trials, additional serious side effects in patients receiving Avastin with chemotherapy included non-GI fistula formation, strokes or heart problems (blood clots), hypertensive crisis (severe hypertension), reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (nervous system and vision disturbances), neutropenia (a reduced white blood cell count that may increase the chance of infection), nephrotic syndrome (a sign of severe kidney malfunction), and congestive heart failure. The most common adverse events seen in patients receiving Avastin with chemotherapy across all studies were weakness, pain, abdominal pain, headache, hypertension, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, constipation, upper respiratory infection, nosebleeds, difficulty breathing, skin irritation, and proteinuria (a possible sign of kidney malfunction).

Please see accompanying full Product Information, including Boxed WARNINGS, for additional safety information.