• Shinji Sasada, Tomonori Hirashima, Yukiko Nakamura, Takayuki Takimoto, Mitsugi Furukawa, Masashi Kobayashi, Takashi Nitta, Kaoru Matsui, and Ichiro Kawase.
• Department of Thoracic Malignancy, Osaka Prefectural Medical Center for Respiratory and Allergic Diseases, Habikino 3-7-1, Habikino, Osaka, 583-8588, Japan. s-sasada@hbk.pref.osaka.jp
• Int. J. Clin. Oncol. 2007 Aug 1; 12 (4): 274-8.

BackgroundPaclitaxel often causes severe hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) rapidly after infusion, even in patients given prophylactic therapy. The purpose of this study was to analyze the incidence of paclitaxel-related HSRs in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) retrospectively, and to assess the feasibility of a modified premedication protocol.MethodsOne hundred and seven patients who were pretreated with either a conventional premedication regimen (two doses of dexamethasone) or a short premedication regimen (single dose of dexamethasone with oral diphenhydramine and intravenous ranitidine), prior to paclitaxel infusion were retrospectively analyzed. A modified premedication regimen, consisting of 12.5 ml of Rescalmin (intravenous diphenhydramine 50 mg and calcium bromide 437.5 mg), intravenous ranitidine 100 mg, and intravenous dexamethasone 20 mg, was given 30 min prior to paclitaxel, with oral dexamethasone 8 mg given on the night before the paclitaxel. Patients received paclitaxel intravenously at 175 mg/m(2) over 3 h, followed by carboplatin, AUC 5, over 1 h on day 1 every 3 weeks.ResultsIn the conventional premedication group, 21 patients had HSRs (32.3%); in 1 of these patients the HSR was considered to be severe (1.5%). In the short premedication group, 19 patients had HSRs (45.2%); in 6 of these patients the HSRs were considered to be severe (14.3%). The incidence of severe HSRs was significantly higher in the short premedication group than in the conventional premedication group (P = 0.027). In the modified premedication protocol study, HSR events were recorded in 14 patients (63.6%); 14 showed flushing, 2 had skin rash, and 1 had tachycardia. No severe HSRs were seen.ConclusionsThe incidence of HSRs in the short premedication group tended to be higher than that in the conventional premedication group. The modified premedication protocol was found to be feasible for preventing paclitaxel-related HSR, but case accumulation is needed.

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