Published today in Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research is a new case report article by Victor C. Kok, Sheng-Chung Wu and Chien-Kuang Lee.  Read more about this paper below:

Title

Successful Remission of Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome During the Third-line Weekly Gemcitabine for Metastatic Breast Cancer

Abstract

Sequential palliative chemotherapy for metastatic breast cancer incorporating weekly gemcitabine administered as three-weeks-on, ­one-week-off sche-dule is widely adopted throughout the East Asia region. Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) associated with weekly gemcitabine for a breast cancer patient is extremely rare. We report here a case of 43-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer who received weekly gemcitabine as a third-line palliative chemotherapy for her disease. She developed HUS after a cumulative dose of 11,000 mg/m2 gemcitabine, evidenced by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA) with schistocytes seen in peripheral blood smear, decreased haptoglobin level (<0.29 mmol/L), thrombocytopenia, negative direct Coombs test, and acute kidney injury. Owing to the ease of administration of weekly gemcitabine, gemcitabine-induced thrombocytopenia, multifactorial anemia in metastatic breast cancer, and possibility of cancer progression, HUS could have gone unnoticed. Breast cancer oncologist should be cognizant of this rare HUS even during weekly gemcitabine treatment.

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