Abstract 3843: Pulmonary toxicities of molecular targeted antineoplastic agents
Authors: Yoon Seug Yun , Lee Namsu , Kim Sook-Ja , Cheong Hee-Jeong , Kim Kyoung Ha , Won Jong-Ho 
Published: May 2015

Background

A better understanding of cancer cell biology has suggested many new targets for cancer drug discovery and development. And these drugs are widely used in treating cancer and usually have good toxicity profiles. But some patients are exquisitely sensitive to these drugs and can develop particular and severe toxicities. Among the toxicities, pulmonary toxicities are infrequent with most commonly used targeted therapies.

The aim of this study was to review the pulmonary toxicities caused by molecular targeted agents and analyze the various radiologic findings and clinical outcomes in these patients group.

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records and chest image findings of 549 patients who were treated by molecular targeted anti-neoplastic agents at Soonchunhyang University Hospital between May 2003 and September 2012. Patients who had chest image findings that suspected infection, pulmonary hemorrhage caused by other cause and primary disease progression were excluded.

Results

Of these 549 patients, 364 patients performed chest CT or HRCT during targeted agent therapy. Thirty-four patients (6.2%) with drug induced pulmonary toxicities confirmed by radiologist and oncologist were identified. The most common targeted agent that induced pulmonary toxicities was gefitinib (9/34 patients), followed by rituximab, imatinib, erlotinib, cetuximab, trastuzumab, bevacizumab, bortezomib, and dasatinib. Pneumonitis (44.1%) and pleural effusion (32.4%) were common radiological findings. Dyspnea was the main presenting initial symptom and proportion in symptomatic patients (18/34 patients, 52.9%) was mostly 83.3% (15/18 patients). Sixteen patients stopped being treated with targeted agents, 11 patients were simultaneously treated with glucocorticoids. Sixteen patients did not receive any other treatment and were observed with regular follow ups. Of 34 patients, 20 patients (58.8%) resolved pulmonary toxicity from chest CT imaging. There were four patients (11.7%) who died from drug related pulmonary toxicity.

Conclusion

Pulmonary toxicities caused by targeted agents are rare but important to recognize. Dyspnea appears to be the main presenting symptom. In conclusion, we should be aware of pulmonary toxicities and symptoms presenting dyspnea during targeted agent therapy. If we suspect drug induced pulmonary toxicities, we should perform immediate imaging studies and keep a possibility of variable radiological patterns in mind. The cessation of the implicated causative targeted agents and treatment with systemic glucocorticoids resulted in an improvement both in symptoms and image findings, but fatal pulmonary toxicities occurred in some patients.

Citation Format: Seug Yun Yoon, Namsu Lee, Sook-Ja Kim, Hee-Jeong Cheong, Kyoung Ha Kim, Jong-Ho Won. Pulmonary toxicities of molecular targeted antineoplastic agents. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3843. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3843