Hematological Toxicities during Treatment with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Presentation of Two Cases

Xenophontos Eleni, Agathocleous Agathoclis, Houtri Katerina and Charalambous Haris

Department of Medical Oncology, Bank of Cyprus Oncology Center, Cyprus
Department of Histopathology, General Hospital of Nicosia, Cyprus

^*Correspondance to: Eleni Xenophontos 

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Abstract:

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the treatment of several cancers. Toxicity from immunotherapy has been described commonly and in some cases can be severe and life-threatening. Hematological immune-related events (h-irAEs) are rarely observed and have not been studied extensively. In this report we present two patients with metastatic cancer developing
h-irAEs after palliative treatment with immunotherapy. The first case was a woman with metastatic kidney cancer who developed autoimmune thrombocytopenia and hemolytic anemia while on nivolumab treatment. The second case describes a male with squamous cell lung cancer who experienced autoimmune thrombocytopenia during maintenance treatment with pembrolizumab.
This report underlines the importance of early diagnosis and adequate management when facing the uncommon event of immune-related hematologic toxicity and emphasizes the need to develop and incorporate algorithms of prompt identification and treatment.

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Cite the Article:

Eleni X, Agathoclis A, Katerina H, Haris C. Hematological Toxicities during Treatment with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors:  Presentation of Two Cases. Clin Oncol. 2021;6:1825..