Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Anthracycline chemotherapy overdose in 16 dogs - toxicity
By Lawson, Haylie C et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2022·College of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Toxicity, outcome, and management of anthracycline overdoses in 16 dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 16 dogs experienced overdoses of chemotherapy drugs called anthracyclines, either due to preparation errors or miscalculations in dosing. Most of these cases were noticed right after the drugs were given, leading to hospitalization for supportive care, which lasted about a week. Common symptoms included low white blood cell counts, bleeding issues, and gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea and vomiting. Fortunately, most dogs recovered, although two did not survive the overdose. Supportive care was crucial in managing their symptoms.
People also search for: dog chemotherapy overdose symptoms · anthracycline toxicity treatment · dog vomiting after chemotherapy
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite multiple reports of chemotherapy overdoses (ODs) in human and veterinary medicine, anthracycline ODs have been described infrequently. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES: Describe toxicities, treatments, and overall outcome after anthracycline OD in dogs. ANIMALS: Twelve mitoxantrone (MTX) and 4 doxorubicin (DOX) ODs were evaluated. METHODS: Multicenter retrospective analysis. The American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine oncology and internal medicine listservs were solicited for cases in which a chemotherapy OD occurred. RESULTS: Sixteen anthracycline cases were collected. Anthracycline ODs occurred because of an error in chemotherapy preparation (n = 9), or dose miscalculation (n = 7). The overall median OD was 1.9× (range, 1.4-10×) the prescribed amount. Most ODs were identified immediately after drug administration (n = 11), and the majority of patients were hospitalized on supportive care (n = 11) for an average of 8 days (range, 3-34 days). Adverse events after the OD included neutropenia (94%), thrombocytopenia (88%), anemia (63%), diarrhea (63%), anorexia (56%), vomiting (38%), lethargy (31%), and nausea (25%). Two patients did not survive the OD. High grade neutropenia was common and did not appear to be mitigated by the administration of filgrastim. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: All patients received supportive care after identifying the OD and death was uncommon. Further evaluation is needed to determine ideal therapeutic guidelines anthracycline OD.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34825413/