Palmar-Plantar Erythrodysesthesia Syndrome Associated with Short-Term Continuous Infusion (5 Days) of 5-Fluorouracil

Abstract

Italian

A case of palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome (PPES) observed during a 120-h infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is presented. This syndrome has been described in the literature after protracted infusion chemotherapy of over 30 days. The agent most frequently associated with this syndrome was 5-FU. A 53-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with a well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the retromolar trigone. The patient received 100 mg/m² of cisplatin on day 1 and 120-h continuous infusion of 1000 mg/m² of 5-FU every 3 weeks. After the second course, the patient developed clinical features consistant with PPES. This side effect has not been previously reported with short-term (5-day or 120-h) continuous infusion of 5-FU. Less frequently, the syndrome has also been described with 10-day continuous infusion. The etiopathogenesis of PPES is unclear, but it seems to be dose-dependent and probably related to cutaneous drug accumulation.

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