Evaluation of neuropathy in patients on suramin treatment

✍ Scribed by Betty Soliven; Upinder K. Dhand; Ken Kobayashi; Ravinder Arora; Barbara Martin; Michele V. Petersen; Linda Janisch; Nicholas J. Vogelzang; Everett E. Vokes; Mark J. Ratain

• Book ID: 101255708
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 125 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0148-639X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4598(199701)20:1<83::aid-mus11>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

Suramin, a promising chemotherapeutic agent, causes a dose-limiting sensorimotor polyneuropathy. We undertook a phase 1 study of suramin that included serial neurologic and electrophysiologic examinations as part of the safety evaluation. We found that 6 of 41 (15%) patients developed suramininduced demyelinating neuropathy which resembled Guillain-Barre ´syndrome clinically. There was 1 asymptomatic patient with electrophysiologic abnormalities suggestive of a demyelinating neuropathy. In addition, 1 patient with mild axonal neuropathy at baseline had deterioration of his symptoms during suramin treatment. Four asymptomatic patients developed electrophysiologic findings suggestive of a mild axonal neuropathy. We conclude that: (1) serial electrophysiologic monitoring is helpful for early detection of suramin-induced neuropathy; and (2) fixed dosing schedule of suramin without adaptive control does not lead to an increased incidence of demyelinating neuropathy when compared to adaptively controlled dosing schedules.