10/8/07 update 4

We found out that Zack really has not gotten better. We have noticed a change in him these past couple of weeks and knew that it would not be good. They say that his blood levels are good but his muscle stregnth is really poor. We have been in treatment for over 6 months now and they say the he should be well in recovery by now and he is not. We have chosen to be part of this study that Stanford is doing for his condition. He will be hooked up to a machine and he will be infused for a 6 hour treatment. He will do this once a week for 2 weeks and than off for 2 weeks and than back on. This study will last 44 weeks. This will supress the cell that is affecting him the most. He will stay on his Methotrexate and the Prednisone along wit the other meds during this time. We are leaving for vacation next week so we will begin this when we get back. He has been in Physical therapy for a few weeks now and we will continue this as well. I copy and pasted a few things from the study and the Medicine for more info:
Rituximab is a man-made antibody used to treat certain types of cancer. This study will determine whether rituximab is an effective treatment for adult and pediatric patients with dermatomyositis or polymyositis.
Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody used and approved since 1997 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. It was approved in February 2006 for adult rheumatoid arthritis patients with an inadequate response to anti-TNF (tumor necrosis factor) agents. In this study, rituximab is considered to be experimental because it is not FDA approved for the treatment of dermatomyositis or polymyositis. The study doctors believe that the symptoms of myositis are related to the presence of B cells in the blood and rituximab is being given to reduce the number of blood B cells. This drug has been used in other research studies in patients with other rheumatologic and autoimmune diseases...:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
A total of 202 participants will be included in the study, including 152 adults and 50 children, at 36 centers across ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />North America and Europe, in a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial.
SIDE EFFECTS: The most common side effect of rituximab is a constellation of symptoms (fever, rigors and chills) that occur during administration of the first dose of drug. More than 80% of patients experience these side effects, and it is severe in 4-7 out of every 10,000 patients. The side effects appear only 40% of the time with the second dose of drug and decreases even less frequently with the last two doses. Other common side effects related to rituximab are nausea, hives, fatigue, headache, itching, difficulty breathing due to bronchospasm, a sensation of swelling of the tongue or throat, runny nose, vomiting, decreased blood pressure, flushing, and pain at the site of the tumor.