Acute Respiratory Failure Developed in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated With Gefitinib.

Ryu, Jeong Seon; Kim, Lucia; Kim, Chul Hyun; Kim, Hyun Jung; Cho, Jae Hwa; Kwak, Seung Min; Lee, Hong Lyeol

doi:2007.62.2.144

Tuberc Respir Dis > Volume 62(2); 2007 > Article

Case Report

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 2007;62(2):144-148.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2007.62.2.144 Published online February 1, 2007.

Acute Respiratory Failure Developed in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated With Gefitinib.

Jeong Seon Ryu, Lucia Kim, Chul Hyun Kim, Hyun Jung Kim, Jae Hwa Cho, Seung Min Kwak, Hong Lyeol Lee

¹Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea. jsryu@inha.ac.kr
²Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea.

Abstract

Gefitinib is an oral selective inhibitor that targets the tyrosine kinase of the epidermal growth factor receptor. The prevalence of interstitial lung disease is 2% in Japan and 0.3% in the USA with a mortality rate of up to one third. We describe two non-small cell lung cancer patients who developed acute respiratory failure after gefitinib, and suggest that clinicians take extreme caution when deciding to treat patients with gefitinib.

Key Words: Adverse effect, Gefitinib, Lung cancer