Doxorubicin is a chemotherapy agent used to treat a wide variety of cancers. In this video, I will teach you an easy mnemonic to help you remember everything you need to know about doxorubicin so you'll be ready for the NCLEX. Let's get started. For today's mnemonic, we're visiting our fisherman friends who are bringing in their crab trap onto the dock.
The trap was heavy as they pulled it up, so they expected a large haul of crabs. But to their surprise, they found a small crab. They found a treasure chest full of rubies. Whoa! The rubies sitting on the dock, or dock rubies, can anchor you to the drug name doxorubicin.
Because doxorubicin sounds a lot like dock rubies, right? Let's start by talking about the clinical use of doxorubicin. Sure enough, a couple of crabs did make their way into the trap.
By the way, these crabs are a symbol for cancer. You know, just like how the zodiac sign for cancer is a crab. It's the cancer crab. Doxorubicin is a chemotherapy drug, meaning it is used to treat cancer. It's not likely that you will be tested on its specific mechanism, so just know that doxorubicin targets rapidly dividing cells, like cancer cells, so they can't replicate, thereby stopping the growth and spread of the cancer.
Unfortunately, doxorubicin and other chemotherapy drugs aren't perfect at distinguishing between cancer cells and normal cells. They just target all rapidly dividing cells. This can lead to some common chemotherapy side effects, so let's talk about those next.
I think this might have been an old pirate's treasure, based on the way there is an old decomposing skeleton on the rubies. These empty broken bones remind me of bone marrow suppression, because there's no bone marrow in these empty broken bones, if you know what I mean. The bone marrow contains rapidly dividing cells that make the components of blood, including white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Doxorubicin can kill or damage these rapidly dividing cells. A reduction in red blood cells leads to anemia causing pallor and fatigue, a reduction in white blood cells leads to increased risk of infection, and a reduction in platelets leads to a higher risk of bleeding.
All of these are symptoms of bone marrow suppression common to almost all chemotherapy drugs. The fisherman's apprentice who just pulled up the treasure chest has not seen the rubies yet. From his point of view, all he can see is degraded skeleton bones, and they are totally grossing him out, so much that he is vomiting in disgust off the side of the doc.
By the way, when you see this vomiting, use that to remind you of the GI disturbances that accompany chemotherapy. Nausea and vomiting is very common in patients taking doxorubicin because the lining of the gut is another location where cells are rapidly dividing. Okay, enough of the general chemotherapy side effects.
Let's now talk about side effects that are specific to doxorubicin. As the apprentice pulled out a bone, a ruby heart necklace bounced onto the dock and cracked, and now it looks like the crab is trying to get away with it. This damaged heart necklace is our symbol for, well, heart damage. Doxorubicin can importantly cause cardiotoxicity, meaning heart damage, specifically in the form of cardiomyopathy.
To avoid this adverse effect, doxorubicin is usually given with another medication called dexrazoxane, which can prevent this cardiotoxicity. You don't need to know that level of detail for the NCLEX. For now, just remember the damaged heart necklace to remember that doxorubicin causes heart damage. After seeing this ruby hull, this fisherman can't contain his excitement.
He is jumping up and down, causing the cocktail sauce he was eating with his crabs to spill all over his groin. This spilled red cocktail sauce on his groin is our symbol for the pinkish or red urine discoloration that can be caused by doxorubicin. You see, the drug is quite red in color and is excreted out into the urine, so patients may experience red urine discoloration.
This red-colored urine is not blood, but is rather a harmless and expected finding with doxorubicin. It's a good idea to explain this to the patient beforehand. so they don't get alarmed when it looks like they are urinating blood.
Okay, we're done here. Let's summarize what we've covered in this mnemonic. Doxorubicin is a chemotherapy drug used to treat a wide variety of cancers. Like most other chemotherapy drugs, doxorubicin can cause gastrointestinal disturbances and bone marrow suppression in patients.
Specific side effects to know about doxorubicin include cardiotoxicity. Doxorubicin may also cause a pinkish-red urine discoloration, which is a harmless side effect due to the drug's red color and excretion into the urine. Finding Pixarise's videos for the NCLEX is kind of like finding your own haul of treasure, right? Let's go ahead and reap our rewards. See you in the next one!
click the image next to the More Here arrow. I'll see you next time.