If patients have been treated concurrently with a full course of low-dose anthracyclines and trastuzumab in the neoadjuvant setting, no additional cytotoxic chemotherapy should be given after surgery. In other situations, the decision on the need for additional cytotoxic chemotherapy is determined based on individual factors.

Experience of concurrent administration of trastuzumab with low-dose anthracycline regimens is currently limited to the trial MO16432.

In the pivotal trial MO16432, trastuzumab was administered concurrently with neoadjuvant chemotherapy containing three cycles of doxorubicin (cumulative dose 180 mg/m2).

The incidence of symptomatic cardiac dysfunction was 1.7% in the trastuzumab arm.

Clinical experience is limited in patients above 65 years of age.

Infusion-related reactions (IRRs) and hypersensitivity

Serious IRRs to trastuzumab infusion including dyspnoea, hypotension, wheezing, hypertension, bronchospasm, supraventricular tachyarrhythmia, reduced oxygen saturation, anaphylaxis, respiratory distress, urticaria and angioedema have been reported (see section 4.8). Pre-medication may be used to reduce risk of occurrence of these events. The majority of these events occur during or within 2.5 hours of the start of the first infusion. Should an infusion reaction occur the infusion should be discontinued or the rate of infusion slowed and the patient should be monitored until resolution of all observed symptoms (see section 4.2). These symptoms can be treated with an analgesic/antipyretic such as meperidine or paracetamol, or an antihistamine such as diphenhydramine. The majority of patients experienced resolution of symptoms and subsequently received further infusions of trastuzumab. Serious reactions have been treated successfully with supportive therapy such as oxygen, beta-agonists, and corticosteroids. In rare cases, these reactions are associated with a clinical course culminating in a fatal outcome. Patients experiencing dyspnoea at rest due to complications of advanced malignancy and comorbidities may be at increased risk of a fatal infusion reaction. Therefore, these patients should not be treated with trastuzumab (see section 4.3).

Initial improvement followed by clinical deterioration and delayed reactions with rapid clinical deterioration have also been reported. Fatalities have occurred within hours and up to one week following infusion. On very rare occasions, patients have experienced the onset of infusion symptoms and pulmonary symptoms more than six hours after the start of the trastuzumab infusion. Patients should be warned of the possibility of such a late onset and should be instructed to contact their physician if these symptoms occur.

Pulmonary events