Capecitabine-induced acute toxic leukoencephalopathy.

Capecitabine-induced acute toxic leukoencephalopathy. Neurotoxicology. 2017 May 06;: Authors: Obadia M, Leclercq D, Wasserman J, Galanaud D, Dormont D, Sahli-Amor M, Psimaras D, Pyatigorskaya N, Law-Ye B Abstract A 45-year-old woman was treated by Capecitabine (Xeloda(®)) during 6days for breast cancer with metastatic bone lesions when she presented with nausea, headaches, muscle cramps, dysarthria and swallowing disorders. A stroke was first suspected. Brain CT was normal. MRI showed bilateral and symmetric high signal intensities of deep white matter, corpus callosum and corticospinal tracts on diffusion-weighted imaging and T2 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence, similar to 5-FU acute leukoencephalopathy. An acute toxic leukoencephalopathy was diagnosed prompting to discontinue capecitabine, which allowed a regression of the symptoms. Though acute acute toxic leukoencephalopathies with pseudo-stroke presentation have been reported with other chemotherapy agents such as methotrexate or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), cases of leukoencephalopathy induced by capecitabine are less reported and less well known. This oral precursor of 5-FU is commonly used to treat colorectal, stomach or breast cancers. Neurotoxicity of other 5-FU derivates like cormafur and tergafur have rarely been depicted as well. Although 5-FU-induced leukoencephalopathy is known, the potential toxicity of its precursor should be acknowledged as well. Earl...
Source: Neurotoxicology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurotoxicology Source Type: research