BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy is an integral part of cancer management which is associated with phlebitis in around 70% of patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy infusion. Thus, we aimed to estimate the incidence, severity, and management of phlebitis associated with chemotherapy infusion among cancer patients.
METHODS: A prospective study was conducted among 145 patients receiving intravenous chemotherapy for the duration of six months in the oncology department. The relevant data for phlebitis was obtained and assessed using Phlebitis Grading Scale and Visual Analogue Scale for the assessment of severity and pain due to phlebitis, respectively.
RESULTS: Out of 145 patients, female (56.6%) patients predominated over male patients (43.5%) with a mean age of 53.5 ± 11.82 years. Phlebitis was encountered in 30.34% of patients among whom 22.8% (33) were females followed by 7.6% were males and the majority of patients (13.1%) were from the 46 to 60 years age group. Phlebitis was observed frequently among stage 2 (11%) and satge 4 (11%) patients. The highest incidence of phlebitis was seen among hypertensive (34.09%) and diabetic patients (27.27%) followed by those receiving chemotherapy through the 20-gauge intravenous cannula (22.8%) and 22-gauge (6.9%). Platinum compounds (56.8%) were commonly associated with phlebitis, followed by cyclophosphamide (20.5%). Heparin and benzyl nicotinate topical gel were used to treat phlebitis.
CONCLUSIONS: Platinum and cyclophosphamide are commonly associated with phlebitis which can be managed by topical heparin plus benzyl nicotinate. Phlebitis shouldn\'t be ignored as it has a high incidence, affects the quality of life, and increases the treatment burden.

Metal-based drugs can modulate various biological processes and exhibit a rich variety of properties that foster their use in biomedicine and chemical biology. On the way to intracellular targets, ligand exchange and redox reactions can take place, thus making metallodrug speciation in vivo a challenging task. Advances in NMR spectroscopy have made it possible to move from solution to live-cell studies and elucidate the transport of metallodrugs and interactions with macromolecular targets in a physiological setting. In turn, the electronic properties and supramolecular chemistry of metal complexes can be exploited to characterize drug delivery nanosystems by NMR. The recent evolution of in-cell NMR methodology is presented with special emphasis on metal-related processes. Applications to paradigmatic cases of platinum and gold drugs are highlighted.

OBJECTIVE: Platinum drugs have been in use in cancer treatment for more than 40 years, but little is known about the pattern of their use. The aim of this study was to examine the patterns of platinum drug use, with a secondary aim to describe the occurrence of dose reductions.
METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted of oncology pharmacy dispensing records from a single hospital in Australia. Data related to drug choice, regimen and dose reductions were included in this study if the patient had received their last round of chemotherapy between November 2014 and July 2015.
RESULTS: Of the 156 patients included in the study, 46% were dispensed a platinum drug during their treatment. The most commonly dispensed drugs were cisplatin (40%), carboplatin (40%) and oxaliplatin (15%), while some patients (5%) received more than one platinum drug. Dose reductions were more common in patients who were treated with a platinum drug (73%) compared with patients treated with non-platinum drugs (55%). The most common reason for a dose reduction was cytopenia.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that platinum drugs remain one of the most commonly dispensed drugs to treat cancer patients and most patients receive a dose reduction during treatment.

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common toxicity secondary to chemotherapy. Genetic factors may be important in predisposing patients to this adverse effect.
METHODS: We studied 950 primary lung cancer patients, who received platinum or platinum-combination drug chemotherapy and who had DNA available for study. We analyzed epidemiological risk factors in 279 CIPN patients and 456 non-CIPN patients and genetic risk factors in 141 CIPN patients and 259 non-CIPN patients. The risk factors studied included demographic, diagnostic, and treatment data, as well as 174 tag SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) across 43 candidate genes in the glutathione, cell cycle, DNA repair, cell signaling, and apoptosis pathways.
RESULTS: Patients who had diabetes mellitus were more likely to have CIPN (p=0.0002). Other epidemiologic risk factors associated with CIPN included number of cycles (p=0.0004) and type of concurrent chemotherapy (p<0.001). SNPs most associated with CIPN were in glutathione peroxidase 7 (GPX7) gene (p values 0.0015 and 0.0028, unadjusted and adjusted) and in ATP-binding cassette sub-family C member 4 (ABCC4) gene (p values 0.037 and 0.006, unadjusted and adjusted). We also found other suggestive associations in methyl-o-guanine-methyl-transferase (MGMT) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) isoforms.
CONCLUSIONS: Epidemiological and genetic risk factors associated with CIPN in this cohort, included the type of chemotherapy drug, intensity of chemotherapy treatment, and genes known to be associated with chemotherapy resistance. These findings suggest that differentiating between cytotoxic and neurotoxic mechanisms of chemotherapy drugs is challenging but represents an important step toward individualized therapy and improving quality of life for patients.