[A case of hyperammonemic encephalopathy in a patient with recurrent colon cancer treated with modified FOLFOX6]

Gan To Kagaku Ryoho. 2009 May;36(5):867-9.
[Article in Japanese]

Abstract

FOLFOX therapy is a commonly used chemotherapeutic regimen against recurrent and unresectable colon cancer. However, its acute neurotoxicity is rare and not well recognized. We herein report a case of mFOLFOX6-induced hyperammonemic encephalopathy in a patient having recurrent colon cancer. A 74-year-old female with a history of sigmoid colon cancer was diagnosed as liver, lung, and peritoneal recurrences by surveillance CT and PET/CT. She was initially treated with modified FOLFOX6 therapy. After completing treatment, she presented with sudden onset of confusion, cognitive disturbances, and repeated seizures. None of the other radiographic examinations and laboratory tests provided an explanation for her symptoms except hyperammonemia. She was treated with branched-chain amino acid solutions and high-volume drip infusion, 6 hours after which the encephalopathy resolved. Clinicians should be aware of the adverse hyperammonemia induced by mFOLFOX6 when patients treated with mFOLFOX6 present with neurological disorders.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / therapeutic use*
  • Brain Diseases, Metabolic / blood*
  • Brain Diseases, Metabolic / chemically induced*
  • Brain Diseases, Metabolic / pathology
  • Colonic Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
  • Colonic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Colonic Neoplasms / pathology
  • Female
  • Fluorouracil / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Hyperammonemia / blood*
  • Hyperammonemia / chemically induced*
  • Leucovorin / therapeutic use
  • Organoplatinum Compounds / therapeutic use
  • Positron-Emission Tomography
  • Recurrence
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Substances

  • Organoplatinum Compounds
  • Leucovorin
  • Fluorouracil

Supplementary concepts

  • Folfox protocol