[A Case of Severe Hematological Toxicity in Response to Pazopanib].

The patient(woman, approximately 46 years old)began pazopanib (PAZ) treatment (800 mg/day)f ollowing the recurrence of retroperitoneal leiomyosarcoma. Prior to treatment, the patient's platelet count was 18.6×10(4)/µl and her neutrophil count was 1.61×10(3)/µl . The platelet count decreased to 9.2×10(4)/µl on day 7 and to 5.4×10(4)/µl on day 21 after commencement of treatment. The neutrophil count was 0.97×10(3)/µl on day 28 and 0.68×10(3)/µl on day 35 after commencement of treatment. Thus, PAZ treatment was stopped on day 35. The blood sampling results on day 42 after commencement of treatment showed that the platelet count was 13.0×10(4)/µl and that the neutrophil count had recovered to 1.28×10(3)/µl . At that time, PAZ treatment was resumed at a reduced dose of 600 mg/day. By day 84 after commencement of treatment, the platelet count had increased from 12.7 to 13.8×10(4)/µl and the neutrophil count had increased from 1.02 to 1.34×10(3)/µl ; treatment was subsequently continued. The main adverse effects that have been reported for PAZ are hypertension and frequent liver dysfunction; these reports also indicate that the incidence of severe cytopenia(thrombocytopenia, neutropenia)is quite low. However, our patient exhibited cytopenia after commencement of PAZ treatment and her blood cell counts recovered once treatment was ceased, independent of other possible medications. Our findings suggest that cytopenia should be considered as an adverse effect of PAZ.

[The Importance of Medication History Management by Hospital and Community Pharmacists for Oral Anticancer Drug S-1(Tegafur/Gimeracil/Oteracil Potassium)--A Retrospective Study].

S-1 (tegafur/gimeracil/oteracil potassium) is an effective oral anticancer drug for treatment of a wide spectrum of cancers. However, it may incur serious adverse effects through factors such as interactions with other drugs, renal dysfunction, or an insufficient washout period. In view of this, pharmacists should play an increasingly significant role in managing the medication history of patients treated with S-1. As there seems to be no standardized management tool for patients receiving S-1, we conducted a retrospective study to evaluate medication history management methods, which are commonly available in community pharmacies as well as hospitals. We identified 128 outpatients who were prescribed S-1 for the first time at the National Cancer Center Hospital from July to December of 2011. These patients were divided into in-hospital (n=48) and out-of-hospital (n=80) groups. The percentage of patients, who dropped out during the first course of S-1 treatment, was 16.7% for the in-hospital group, and 10% for the out-of-hospital group. Examining renal dysfunction, non-elderly patients with low creatinine clearance (Ccr) were found. These results suggest that there is the possibility of side effect occurrence in both the in-hospital and out-of-hospital prescription groups. Community pharmacists should check prescriptions with particular attention to the Ccr. It is necessary to develop mechanisms for cooperation between hospital and community pharmacists, with clear role sharing between them, allowing the community pharmacists to exercise medication history management for patients prescribed S-1 to the same degree as hospital pharmacists based on available information including laboratory test values.