Bevacizumab induced reversible thrombocytopenia in a patient with recurrent high-grade glioma: a case report

Abstract

We report a case of bevacizumab (BEV)-induced thrombocytopenia in a 36-year-old woman treated with BEV as a single-agent for a recurrent high-grade glioma. The thrombocytopenia was both reversible and reproducible on multiple treatment cycles. The patient has improved clinically and by brain MR imaging with single-agent BEV for approximately 7 months to date. She did not have bleeding or thromboembolic complications. Treatment delays have been 1-2 weeks relative to a conventional plan of treatment, i.e., 10 mg/kg every 2 weeks. This is a rare complication that has not been previously reported.

Bevacizumab-Induced Reversible Thrombocytopenia in a Patient with Adenocarcinoma of Colon: Rare Adverse Effect of Bevacizumab

“…Thrombocytopenia is a rare adverse effect of BEV that has only few case reports in the literature. Leal et al reported a case of bevacizumab-induced reversible thrombocytopenia in a patient with recurrent high-grade glioma [4]. In their case report, the patient had no bleeding and platelet count was mildly dropped, but our patient had melena, epistaxis with severe thrombocytopenia.…”

Unexpected Hematologic Effects of Biotherapeutics in Nonclinical Species and in Humans

“…Bevacizumab administration has been associated with thrombocytopenia and thrombosis in human trials but not nonclinical safety studies (Leal and Robins 2010;Scappaticci et al 2007). Postulated mechanisms include platelet consumption due to endothelial dysfunction from lack of VEGF (Kilickap, Abali, and Celik 2003), a HIT-like mechanism, and direct effects on platelet life span.…”

Severe thrombocytopenia associated to bevacizumab in a patient with scleroderma, gastrointestinal angiodysplasias and refractory gastrointestinal bleeding

“…Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia can occur as a result of drug-induced antibody formation against platelets, leading to their destruction [11]. Reports on this rare adverse event have been published [3,8,12]. However, in this particular case, laboratory findings did not provide definitive evidence indicating immune-mediated thrombocytopenia, such as In this panel, photographic captures (a-d) of the patient's digestive endoscopy are presented, showing multiple angiodysplasias.…”