Elsevier

Annals of Oncology

Volume 15, Issue 6, June 2004, Pages 858-862
Annals of Oncology

Reviews
Extravasation of systemic hemato-oncological therapies

https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdh214Get rights and content
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Abstract

Systemic intravenous chemotherapeutic agents can cause multiple emergency situations including acute and chronic local and systemic reactions. Amongst them, drug extravasation is one of the most devastating complications, as many drugs can cause varying degrees of local tissue injury when extravasated. Although it is difficult to give an accurate measurement, the incidence of extravasation of systemic infusional chemotherapeutic agents has been reported to occur in 0.1–6.5% of cases. Since most extravasations can be prevented with the systematic implementation of careful administration techniques, guidelines have been published for the administration of vesicant drugs. The proper maintenance of intravenous lines, application of local cooling or warming for certain extravasations, and the use of antidotes to prevent the local toxic action of the extravasated drugs are the basisof medical management. The specific antidotes for certain chemotherapeutic agents are also discussed in this article.

Keywords

antidotes
chemotherapy extravasation
irritant drugs
vesicant drugs

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