Skip to main content

Patterns of platinum drug use in an acute care setting: a retrospective study

Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology volume 144, pages 1561–1568 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

Platinum drugs have been in use in cancer treatment for more than 40 years, but little is known about the pattern of their use. The aim of this study was to examine the patterns of platinum drug use, with a secondary aim to describe the occurrence of dose reductions.

Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted of oncology pharmacy dispensing records from a single hospital in Australia. Data related to drug choice, regimen and dose reductions were included in this study if the patient had received their last round of chemotherapy between November 2014 and July 2015.

Results

Of the 156 patients included in the study, 46% were dispensed a platinum drug during their treatment. The most commonly dispensed drugs were cisplatin (40%), carboplatin (40%) and oxaliplatin (15%), while some patients (5%) received more than one platinum drug. Dose reductions were more common in patients who were treated with a platinum drug (73%) compared with patients treated with non-platinum drugs (55%). The most common reason for a dose reduction was cytopenia.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that platinum drugs remain one of the most commonly dispensed drugs to treat cancer patients and most patients receive a dose reduction during treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Abbreviations

AUD:

Australian dollar

BMI:

Body-mass index

CRGH:

Concord Repatriation General Hospital

EGFR:

Epidermal growth factor receptor

IQR:

Interquartile range

NSCLC:

Non-small cell lung cancer

References

  • Apps MG, Choi EHY, Wheate NJ (2015) The state-of-play and future of platinum drugs. Endocr-Relat Cancer 22(4):219–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2017) Cancer in Australia 2017. Cancer series. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra

  • Bagheri-Sereshki N, Hales BF, Robaire B (2016) The effects of chemotherapeutic agents, bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin, on chromatin remodeling in male rat germ cells. Biol Reprod 94(4):1–9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bosl GJ, Bajorin DF, Sheinfeld J, Motzer RJ, Chaganti RS (2001) Cancer of the testis. Cancer principles practice of oncology, 6th edn. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, 1491–1518

    Google Scholar 

  • Cancer Institute NSW (2011) eviQ cancer treatments online

  • Dyson PJ, Sava G (2006) Metal-based antitumour drugs in the post genomic era. Dalton Trans. https://doi.org/10.1039/B601840H

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egorin MJ, Van Echo DA, Tipping SJ, Olman EA, Whitacre MY, Thompson BW, Aisner J (1984) Pharmacokinetics and dosage reduction of cis-diammine(1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylato)platinum in patients with impaired renal function. Cancer Res 44(11):5432–5438

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Einhorn LH, Foster RS (2006) Bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin for three cycles compared with etoposide and cisplatin for four cycles in good-risk germ cell tumors: is there a preferred regimen? J Clin Oncol 24(16):2597–2598

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Giaccone G (2000) Clinical perspectives on platinum resistance. Drugs 59(4):9–17

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson D (2016) Platinum(IV) anticancer prodrugs—hypotheses and facts. Dalton Trans 45(33):12983–12991

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Greystoke A, Steele N, Arkenau H-T, Blackhall F, Haris NM, Lindsay CR, Raffaele C, Voskoboynik M, Summers Y, So K, Ghiorghiu D, Dymond AW, Hossack S, Plummer R, Dean E (2017) SELECT-3: a phase I study of selumetinib in combination with platinum-doublet chemotherapy for advanced NSCLC in the first-line setting. Br J Cancer 117:938–946

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gutierrez F, Gonzalez-de-la-Fuente GA, Nazco GJ, Oramas J, Batista N (2016) Hematological toxicity of carboplatin for gynecological cancer according to body mass index. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 72(9):1083–1089

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hannon MJ (2007) Metal-based anticancer drugs: from a past anchored in platinum post-genomic future and biology. Pure Appl Chem 79(12):2243–2261

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harper BW, Krause-Heuer AM, Grant MP, Manohar M, Garbutcheon-Singh KB, Aldrich-Wright JR (2010) Advances in platinum chemotherapeutics. Chem Eur J 16(24):7064–7077

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Husain K, Jagannathan R, Hasan Z, Trammell GL, Rybak LP, Hazelrigg SR, Somani SM (2002) Dose response of carboplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. Pharmacol Toxicol 91(2):83–89

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone TC, Park GY, Lippard SJ (2014) Understanding and Improving platinum anticancer drugs—phenanthriplatin. Anticancer Res 34(1B):471–476

    PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kelland L (2007) The resurgence of platinum-based cancer chemotherapy. Nat Rev Cancer 7(8):573–584

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kopp H-G, Kuczyk M, Classen J, Stenzl A, Kanz L, Mayer F, Bamberg M, Hartmann JT (2006) Advances in the treatment of testicular cancer. Drugs 66(5):641–659

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Langer CJ, Moughan J, Movsas B, Komaki R, Ettinger D, Owen J, Wilson JF (2005) Patterns of care survey (PCS) in lung cancer: how well does current US practice with chemotherapy in the non-metastatic setting follow the literature? Lung Cancer 48(1):93–102

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McEvoy LM, O’Toole SA, Spillane CD, Martin CM, Gallagher MF, Stordal B, Blackshields G, Sheils O, O’Leary JJ (2015) Identifying novel hypoxia-associated markers of chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. BMC Cancer 15:1–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Muggia FM, Bonetti A, Hoeschele JD, Rozencweig M, Howell SB (2015) Platinum antitumor complexes: 50 years since barnett rosenberg’s discovery. J Clin Oncol 33(35):4219–4226

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rabik CA, Dolan ME (2007) Molecular mechanisms of resistance and toxicity associated with platinating agents. Cancer Treat Rev 33(1):9–23

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rixe O, Ortuzar W, Alvarez M, Parker R, Reed E, Paull K, Fojo T (1996) Oxaliplatin, tetraplatin, cisplatin, and carboplatin: spectrum of activity in drug-resistant cell lines and in the cell lines of the National Cancer Institute’s anticancer drug screen panel. Biochem Pharmacol 52(12):1855–1865

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sacher AG, Le LW, Lau A, Earle CC, Leighl N (2015) Real-world chemotherapy treatment patterns in metastatic non–small cell lung cancer: are patients undertreated? Cancer 121(15):2562–2569

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart DJ (2007) Mechanisms of resistance to cisplatin and carboplatin. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol 63(1):12–31

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart B, Wild CP (2014) World Cancer Report 2014: World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweetman S (2017) Martindale: the complete drug reference. Pharmaceutical Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Vijayvergia N, Li T, Wong Y-N, Hall MJ, Cohen SJ, Dotan E (2016) Chemotherapy use and adoption of new agents is affected by age and comorbidities in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer: chemotherapy adoption in older patients with CRC. Cancer 122(20):3191–3198

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wang D, Lippard SJ (2005) Cellular processing of platinum anticancer drugs. Nat Rev Drug Discov 4(4):307–320

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wheate NJ, Walker S, Craig GE, Oun R (2010) The status of platinum anticancer drugs in the clinic and in clinical trials. Dalton Trans 39(35):8113–8127

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yanagimoto Y, Takiguchi S, Miyazaki Y, Makino T, Takahashi T, Kurokawa Y, Yamasaki M, Miyata H, Nakajima K, Hosoda H, Kangawa K, Mori M, Doki Y (2016) Improvement of cisplatin-related renal dysfunction by synthetic ghrelin: a prospective randomised phase II trial. Brit J Cancer 114:1318–1325

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang CH, Fukuoka M, Mok TS, Wu YL, Thongprasert S, Saijo N, Chu DT, Jiang H, Duffield EL, Ichinose Y (2010) Final overall survival (OS) results from a Phase III, randomised, open-label, first-line study of gefitinib (G) v carboplatin/paclitaxel (C/P) in clinically selected patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Asia. Ann Oncol 21:1–2

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zalba S, Garrido MJ (2013) Liposomes, a promising strategy for the clinical application of platinum derivatives. Expert Opin Drug Deliv 10(6):829–844

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Rosemary Burke, Director of Pharmacy, CRGH, Robert Bayley, Oncology Pharmacy Department Manager, CRGH, and the rest of the Oncology Pharmacy Department at CRGH for graciously accommodating the researcher during the data collection phase and Professor Ines Krass, University of Sydney, Faculty of Pharmacy, for her assistance with statistical analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sydney Pharmacy School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Evangeline Armstrong-Gordon, Danijela Gnjidic, Andrew J. McLachlan & Nial J. Wheate

  2. Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Danijela Gnjidic

  3. Centre for Education and Research in Ageing, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Sydney, NSW, 2139, Australia

    Andrew J. McLachlan

  4. Oncology Pharmacy Department, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Sydney Local Health District, Sydney, NSW, 2139, Australia

    Bayan Hosseini & Andrew Grant

  5. Concord Cancer Centre, Concord Repatriation General Hospital and Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Philip J. Beale

Authors
  1. Evangeline Armstrong-Gordon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Danijela Gnjidic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew J. McLachlan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bayan Hosseini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Andrew Grant
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Philip J. Beale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Nial J. Wheate
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Danijela Gnjidic or Nial J. Wheate.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Author A declares that he/she has no conflict of interest. Author B declares that he/she has no conflict of interest. Author C declares that he/she has no conflict of interest. Author D declares that he/she has no conflict of interest. Author E declares that he/she has no conflict of interest. Author F declares that he/she has no conflict of interest. Author G declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Sydney Local Health District Concord Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC Reference Number: LNR/17/CRGH/196).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Armstrong-Gordon, E., Gnjidic, D., McLachlan, A.J. et al. Patterns of platinum drug use in an acute care setting: a retrospective study. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 144, 1561–1568 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-018-2669-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-018-2669-6

Keywords

  • Platinum drugs
  • Cancer
  • Chemotherapy
  • Prescribing
  • Dose reductions