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Case Reports
. 2017 Nov 7;17(1):722.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-017-3712-8.

Trastuzumab resumption after extremely severe cardiotoxicity in metastatic breast cancer patient: a case report

Santino Minichillo  1 , Ilaria Gallelli  2 , Elena Barbieri  3 , Marta Cubelli  3 , Daniela Rubino  3 , Sara Quercia  3 , Massimo Dall'Olio  2 , Claudio Rapezzi  2 , Claudio Zamagni  3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Trastuzumab resumption after extremely severe cardiotoxicity in metastatic breast cancer patient: a case report

Santino Minichillo et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Trastuzumab-related cardiotoxicity has been reported in patients receiving trastuzumab concurrently with other agents, especially with anthracyclines. Cardiac function damage is generally rare, precox and mild with trastuzumab alone.

Case presentation: We report the case of a 49 year-old woman affected by metastatic breast cancer who developed trastuzumab-related cardiogenic shock due to pump failure (with LVEF of about 15%) after three months of treatment. After a long hospitalization in the cardiac intensive care unit and a proper treatment, LVEF increased to 50% and, due to a severe progression of disease, trastuzumab was resumed and continued for more than one year.

Conclusion: This is a case of particularly severe cardiotoxicity related to trastuzumab treatment, which was recovered with pharmacological treatment and the temporary discontinuation of the treatment. Trastuzumab was safely resumed after clinical and echocardiographic parameters improvement.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Cardiotoxicity; Ejection fraction; Heart failure; Monoclonal antibody; Trastuzumab.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The authors declare they have observed appropriate ethical guidelines and legislation in writing the case report. Consent to participate was obtained from the patient.

Consent for publication

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this Case Report. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this journal.

Competing interests

The authors declare they have no competing interests.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Left ventricular ejection fraction values in the treatment period. T: trastuzumab, D: docetaxel, VNR: vinorelbine, C: capecitabine, L: lapatinib
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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