ABSTRACT
Mutations in EGFR have been implicated in the pathogenesis of various types of cancer, and therefore antibody therapy directed against the epidermal growth factor receptor (egfr) is increasingly being used in the management of various cancers. Currently, anti-egfr antibodies are used mainly in the management of cancers of the head and neck and metastatic colorectal cancers. Because of this increasing use, we would like to inform the oncology community in North America of a rare, but life-threatening, toxicity associated with anti-egfr antibody therapy. Although cases in white and Japanese men have been documented, we present the first known North American report of panitumumab-induced pulmonary toxicity in a white woman.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological/adverse effects , Panitumumab/adverse effects , Respiratory Distress Syndrome/chemically induced , Colonic Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Colonic Neoplasms/drug therapy , Colonic Neoplasms/pathology , ErbB Receptors/antagonists & inhibitors , Female , Humans , Lung/diagnostic imaging , Lung/pathology , Middle Aged , Respiratory Distress Syndrome/diagnostic imagingABSTRACT
A 73-yr-old white woman admitted with lobar pneumonia and congestive heart failure developed progressive colonic pseudoobstruction (Ogilvie's syndrome) 2 days after admission which was unrelieved by diatrizoate meglumine (Gastrografin, Squibb Canada, Montreal) enema and rectal tube. Cisapride, a new gastrointestinal prokinetic agent, was administered intravenously with full resolution of the syndrome. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of successful treatment of acute colonic pseudoobstruction with cisapride.
