Breast Cancer

What is breast cancer?

Breast cancer occurs when abnormal cells in the breast begin to grow and divide in an uncontrolled way and eventually form a tumour. Breast cancer most commonly starts in the cells that line the milk ducts of the breast. It is the most common cancer in the UK. It mainly affects women, but men can get it too.

How does Prostap DCS work?

Some breast cancers can use your body’s naturally occurring female hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, to grow. Prostap DCS is able to block the release of oestrogen and progesterone from the ovaries. With lower levels of oestrogen in the body, these breast cancers are inhibited from growing.

How is your medication given?

Prostap DCS is an injection. It will be prepared according to your dosage needs and administered by your nurse or doctor at your GP surgery or hospital. You will have been prescribed one of two versions of Prostap DCS. These different types contain different amounts of the active medicine, which will determine the frequency you are given the injection.

Most common side effects

Injection-site reaction
Skin reactions at the site of the injection are common, affecting around more than 1 in 10 men and up to 1 in 10 women.
These include:

• Skin hardening
• Redness
• Pain
• Abscesses
• Swelling
• Nodules
• Ulcers
• Skin damage

Note:
When starting Prostap DCS, you may experience a ‘flare-up’ of tumour symptoms, such as bone pain or difficulty urinating. This is common to all GnRH agonist treatments and normally lasts for a few weeks.
In order to reduce the risk of a flare-up, you may be given an anti-androgen 3 days prior to Prostap DCS therapy and continued for the first 2-3 weeks of treatment.

Other side effects
For a full list of side effects, please consult the patient information leaflet for your dose. If you don’t have a copy of the patient information leaflet you can download one here:

Reporting of side effects
If you get any side effects, talk to your doctor, pharmacist or nurse. This includes any possible side effects not listed in this leaflet or the package leaflet. Please don’t skip an injection.

You can also report side effects directly via the Yellow Card Scheme at mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard

By reporting side effects, you can help provide more information on the safety of Prostap DCS.

Resources

Takeda provides this resource to support patients who have been prescribed Prostap DCS. You can request a copy from your Healthcare Professional.