Tumor lysis syndrome after treatment with gemcitabine for metastatic transitional cell carcinoma

Abstract

Tumor lysis syndrome is a set of life threatening complication that can arise from treatment of high tumor burden, drug sensitive, and rapidly proliferating neoplasm particularly of hematological origin. It is rarely described in patients with solid tumors. We report the first case of tumor lysis syndrome in a man with metastatic renal pelvic transitional cell carcinoma after gemcitabine treatment. Despite aggressive therapy, he died 2 weeks after TLS was diagnosed. Our experience demonstrates that administration of gemcitabine for metastatic renal pelvic transitional cell carcinoma may induce acute tumor lysis syndrome, which necessitates frequent laboratory monitoring and prompt initiation of appropriate therapeutic measures.

Tumor Lysis Syndrome in Solid Tumors: An up to Date Review of the Literature

“…66,67 On a histological level there were two cases of clear cell carcinoma, 67,68 one case of transitional cell carcinoma and one case of chromophobe cancer. 66,69 It is important to note that some reports did not include the whole spectrum of baseline laboratory values pertinent to TLS. Nevertheless, two patients had elevated baseline levels of creatinine, 66,69 one patient had baseline increase in uric acid and one had elevated baseline levels of LDH.…”

Spontaneous tumour lysis syndrome

“…6 There is, however, a growing number of reported cases of tumour lysis syndrome in such patients after the initiation of treatment, including corticosteroids, radiation and chemotherapy. [8][9][10][11] Although it occurs rarely, this syndrome can also be spontaneous in patients with solid tumours, including, but not limited to, gastric, lung and breast cancer. [12][13][14][15] There is limited information about tumour lysis syndrome and malignant involvement of the liver.…”

Tumor Lysis Syndrome in a Patient with Metastatic Colon Cancer after Treatment with 5-Fluorouracil/Leucovorin and Oxaliplatin: Case Report and Literature Review

“…The first such patient, who had a widespread adenocarcinoma of gastrointestinal origin with renal failure, was reported in 1977 [4], and an additional 74 patients with solid tumors who developed TLS were reported between 1977 and 2011. These solid tumors included breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, germ cell tumor, melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, head and neck cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, vulva cancer, prostate cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, sarcoma, neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma, hepatoblastoma, gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, renal cell carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma, and thymoma [1,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. …”