Clinical Outcomes of Reintroducing Oxaliplatin to Patients with Colorectal Cancer after Mild Hypersensitivity Reactions

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of reintroducing oxaliplatin to patients with colorectal cancer who developed mild hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs). Methods: A retrospective review was performed of 204 patients who received oxaliplatin-based chemotherapies between January 2003 and August 2009. Desensitization was not used. Results: A total of 44 patients (21.6%) were found to have developed HSRs to oxaliplatin. After the occurrence of an HSR, a mean of three courses of oxaliplatin (range 1-8) were introduced. Following the initial episode, oxaliplatin was reintroduced to 39 patients, resulting in HSR relapse in 89.7% of the patients, including 4 patients (10.3%) with grade 3 reactions. After the second re-exposure of oxaliplatin to 22 patients, HSRs were exhibited in 81.8%, including 2 patients (9.1%) who developed grade 3 reactions. After the third and subsequent re-exposures in 12 patients, all except 1 of the patients developed mild reactions. A total of 7 patients (17.9%) exhibited severe reactions along with the progress of re-exposure. Conclusion: We observed that the majority of patients who experienced mild HSRs to oxaliplatin developed mild reactions on multiple re-exposures, suggesting that it may be feasible to continue oxaliplatin without using desensitization when tolerable after mild reactions. (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel