Arterial occlusion in patients with peripheral vascular disease treated with platinum-based regimens for lung cancer

Abstract Background: Patients with cancer may be hypercoagulable, and smoking can cause both lung cancer and peripheral vascular disease. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy has been reported to cause a variety of vascular side effects. Case reports: Five patients with bronchogenic carcinoma and peripheral vascular disease developed acute arterial occlusion soon after receiving a combination of cisplatin or carboplatin plus etoposide. All these patients had risk factors for atherosclerosis and three of them had preexisting known peripheral vascular disease. Conclusions: The occurrence of acute arterial occlusion soon after initiation of chemotherapy suggests that it might have been a complication of this therapy. Hence, caution should be exercised when using platinum-based (and other?) chemotherapy in patients with known moderate or severe peripheral vascular disease.