Yesterday, I wanted to talk more about the Vinblastine and the Vincristine. I will do this now in this post as personal research based on interesting information I found on the net.
The gold standard chemotherapy regimen for treating Hodgkin Lymphoma is, at the time of writing this, the ABVD (V for Vinblastine). It has been in use for a couple of decades. The predecessor of ABVD in the '60s was the MOPP (O for Oncovin, AKA Vincristine). Basically, Vincristine does the same in treating cancer cells as Vinblastine. One of the main differences with Vincristine or the reason it was replaced is, quoting Wikipedia:
The main side effects of vincristine are chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, hyponatremia, constipation, and hair loss.
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy can be severe, and may be a reason to reduce or avoid using vincristine. The symptoms of this are progressive and enduring tingling numbness, pain and hypersensitivity to cold, beginning in the hands and feet and sometimes affecting the arms and legs. One of the first symptoms of peripheral neuropathy is foot drop: A person with a family history of foot drop and/or Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) should avoid the taking of vincristine.
Basically, both Vinblastine and Vincristine cause chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, but it looks like the one due to Vincristine tends to be more severe.
Finally, an interesting fact: the flower in the picture attached to this post is where the Vinblastine and Vincristine are obtained along with a bunch of other components. The name of that flower is: Madagascar periwinkle. Here in DR we can find this flower everywhere. Sometimes, we are so close to certain sources.