Al's Comment:
This is a reminder that we have to be careful of the treatments we use. If you think an alternative treatment is strong enough to stop a glioblastoma, then it may be strong enough to cause other severe problems.
Posted on: 10/25/2016
Front Oncol. 2016 Oct 7;6:204. eCollection 2016.
Fatal Liver and Bone Marrow Toxicity by Combination Treatment of Dichloroacetate and Artesunate in a Glioblastoma Multiforme Patient: Case Report and Review of the Literature.
Uhl M1, Schwab S1, Efferth T2.
Author information:
1Department of Neurology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg , Erlangen , Germany.
2Institute of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University , Mainz , Germany.
Abstract
A 52-year-old male patient was treated with standard radiochemotherapy with temozolomide for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). After worsening of his clinical condition, further tumor-specific treatment was unlikely to be successful, and the patient seeked help from an alternative practitioner, who administered a combination of dichloroacetate (DCA) and artesunate (ART). A few days later, the patient showed clinical and laboratory signs of liver damage and bone marrow toxicity (leukopenia, thrombocytopenia). Despite successful restoration of laboratory parameters upon symptomatic treatment, the patient died 10 days after the infusion. DCA bears a well-documented hepatotoxic risk, while ART can be considered as safe concerning hepatotoxicity. Bone marrow toxicity can appear upon ART application as reduced reticulocyte counts and disturbed erythropoiesis. It can be assumed that the simultaneous use of both drugs caused liver injury and bone marrow toxicity. The compassionate use of DCA/ART combination therapy outside of clinical trials cannot be recommended for GBM treatment.
PMID: 27774434 [PubMed - in process]
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