Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (11)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Grover, J. K.
Right arrow Articles by Raina, V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Grover, J. K.
Right arrow Articles by Raina, V.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Annals of Oncology 13:1636-1640, 2002
© 2002 European Society for Medical Oncology

Original Paper

The adverse effects of thalidomide in relapsed and refractory patients of multiple myeloma

J. K. Grover1,+, G. Uppal1 and V. Raina2

1 Department of Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; 2 Institute of Rotary Cancer Hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Received 25 October 2001; revised 21 February 2002; accepted 27 March 2002

Thalidomide has shown efficacy in relapsed or refractory patients of multiple myeloma (MM). We present the adverse effect profile of thalidomide in 23 relapsed or refractory MM patients treated with this drug over a period of 15 months. Constipation (100% incidence) and sedation (87%) were the most common adverse effects. Neuropathy had low incidence and was late in onset (>12 months). Tolerance developed to sedation, constipation and skin lesions. All the adverse drug reactions were tolerable and did not warrant decrease or termination of therapy, except for peripheral neuropathy. Contrary to Western reports, peripheral neuropathy in Indian patients developed at a cumulative dose of 200 g or more after 10 months or more of therapy. Therapy was discontinued in one patient due to marked elevation of liver enzyme that was later attributed to acute hepatitis C infection. Only one patient dropped out of the trial for unknown reasons. Overall, thalidomide was found to be a relatively safe drug that can be used over a prolonged period of time.

Key words: adverse reaction, dose–duration relationship, multiple myeloma, thalidomide


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Ann OncolHome page
N. Fuente, J. M. Mane, R. Barcelo, A. Munoz, T. Perez-Hoyos, and G. Lopez-Vivanco
Tumor lysis syndrome in a multiple myeloma treated with thalidomide
Ann. Onc., March 1, 2004; 15(3): 537 - 537.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.