The Side Effects of Platinum-Based Chemotherapy Drugs: A Review for Chemists

    January 2018 in “ Dalton transactions ”
    Rabbab Oun, Yvonne E. Moussa, Nial J. Wheate
    TLDR Platinum-based chemotherapy drugs can cause many severe side effects, often requiring dose reductions and additional medications to manage.
    The review discussed the severe, dose-limiting side effects of platinum-based chemotherapy drugs—cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin—used in cancer treatment. Cisplatin's primary side effect was nephrotoxicity, carboplatin's was myelosuppression, and oxaliplatin's was neurotoxicity. Other common side effects included anaphylaxis, various cytopenias, hepatotoxicity, ototoxicity, cardiotoxicity, gastrointestinal issues, pain, alopecia, and more. These side effects often necessitated dose reductions of 25-100% and extensive patient monitoring. Additionally, patients were frequently prescribed non-chemotherapy drugs to manage these side effects.
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