Flagellate Rash: An Unusual Complication of Bleomycin Therapy – A Case Report with Brief Review of Literature

Chaturbhuj Agrawal; Vineet Talwar; Rajeev Saini; Pradeep Babu

doi:10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_147_16

Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2017; 38(04): 548-551
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_147_16

Case Report

Flagellate Rash: An Unusual Complication of Bleomycin Therapy – A Case Report with Brief Review of Literature

Authors

Chaturbhuj Agrawal

Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Rohini, New Delhi, India
Vineet Talwar

Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Rohini, New Delhi, India
Rajeev Saini

Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Rohini, New Delhi, India
Pradeep Babu

Department of Medical Oncology, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Rohini, New Delhi, India

Abstract

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Abstract

Chemotherapy-induced skin rashes arecommon toxicities encountered which require careful assessment and evaluation as rashes could be a manifestation of primary malignancy itself and a variety of drugs used incombination furthercomplicate the clinical scenario. Bleomycin is an anticancer antibiotic derived from Streptomyces verticillus and has beencommonly used in the treatment of Hodgkin's disease, germ cell tumors and for pleurodesis. There are various dermatological adverse effects of bleomycin which have been previously reported in literature including skin peeling, hyperkeratosis, nail bed changes, Raynaud's phenomenon, and palmoplantar desquamation. Bleomycin-induced skin rashes are seen infrequently now a day due to its declining use in clinical practice. We report here a 29-year-old male with Stage III germ cell tumor who developed widespread flagellate rash after receiving 3 cycles of bleomycin-based chemotherapy which responded to treatment with local steroids and omission of bleomycin from further chemotherapy cycles.

Keywords

Bleomycin - flagellate rash - germ cell tumor

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References

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