A case of uremic pruritus and papulo-pustular rash associated with anti-EGFR therapy in a patient with rectal cancer and chronic kidney disease

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Abstract

Uremic pruritus is a common symptom in chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal failure. In addition to physical discomfort uremic pruritus disrupts sleep, negatively affects the psycho-emotional state and quality of life. In this group of patients, the association of uremic pruritus with an increase in mortality due to any causes was demonstrated. At the same time, there are no standardized approaches to the treatment of uremic itching. There is also a special category of patients receiving antitumor therapy and developing dermatological adverse events, also potentially accompanied by itching.

This article presents a case of uremic pruritus in a patient with papulo-pustular cutaneous reaction (grade II on a Scale Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, CTCAE v 5.0) to the epidermal growth factor (EGFR) inhibitor cetuximab in combination with leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil for rectal cancer. Treatment of uremic pruritus with small doses of gebapentin (300 mg/day) led to complete regression of pruritus. Papulo-pustular rashes completely regressed after recommended systemic and topical therapy according to the severity of rush (doxycycline 100 mg 2 times a day for 5 days, cream with neomycin, natamycin and hydrocortisone 3 times a day for 7 days). Pruritus was absent during the next 6 months of follow-up. Antitumor therapy was not interrupted due to acneiform rush, and following supportive topical therapy allowed to control severity of exacerbations which did not exceed I–II grade according to CTCAE v 5.0 and did not require the addition of systemic therapy.

Thus, therapy of uremic pruritus with gabapentin has shown was effective also in a patient with severe comorbid pathology. Supportive topical therapy consistent with the severity of papulo-pustular rash reduced the severity of exacerbations during following EGFR inhibitor therapy.

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About the authors

Anna V. Michenko

Central State Medical Academy Department for Presidential Affairs of the Russian Federation; Lomonosov Moscow State University, Medical Research and Educational Center; International Institute of Psychosomatic Health; Institute of Plastic Surgery and Cosmetology

Author for correspondence.
Email: amichenko@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2985-5729
SPIN-code: 8375-4620

MD, Cand. Sci. (Med.), Assistant Professor

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow; Moscow; Moscow

Larisa S. Kruglova

Central State Medical Academy Department for Presidential Affairs of the Russian Federation

Email: kruglovals@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5044-5265
SPIN-code: 1107-4372

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor

Russian Federation, Moscow

Evgeniya A. Shatokhina

Central State Medical Academy Department for Presidential Affairs of the Russian Federation; Lomonosov Moscow State University, Medical Research and Educational Center

Email: e.a.shatokhina@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0238-6563
SPIN-code: 3827-0100

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

Andrey N. Lvov

Central State Medical Academy Department for Presidential Affairs of the Russian Federation;Lomonosov Moscow State University, Medical Research and Educational Center

Email: alvov@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3875-4030
SPIN-code: 1053-3290

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor, Senior Research Associate

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow

Ekaterina M. Simenskaya

Central State Medical Academy Department for Presidential Affairs of the Russian Federation

Email: skate779@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1703-013X
SPIN-code: 2554-5354
Russian Federation, Moscow

Dmitry V. Romanov

International Institute of Psychosomatic Health; M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Sechenov University); Mental Health Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences

Email: newt777@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1822-8973
SPIN-code: 2412-9077

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.), Professor, Leading Researcher

Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow; Moscow

Inessa B. Kononenko

N. Lopatkin Scientific Research Institute of Urology and Interventional Radiology ― branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation

Email: Inessa.Kononenko@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7142-2986
SPIN-code: 8306-1365

MD, Cand. Sci. (Med.)

Russian Federation, Moscow

Anton V. Snegovoy

N. Lopatkin Scientific Research Institute of Urology and Interventional Radiology ― branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation

Email: drsneg@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0170-5681
SPIN-code: 8398-2396

MD, Dr. Sci. (Med.)

Russian Federation, Moscow

References

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  11. Shatokhina EA, Kruglova LS, Polonskaya AS, Nosikova PG. Acne-like rash: A dermatological undesirable phenomenon of therapy with monoclonal antibodies to EGFR. Pharmateca. 2020;27(8):56–60. (In Russ). doi: 10.18565/pharmateca.2020.8.56-60
  12. Shatokhina EA, Kruglova LS, Polonskaya AS. Treatment of acne-like rash induced by monoclonal antibodies to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Medical Council. 2020;(20):157–164. doi: 10.21518/2079-701X-2020-20-157-164

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
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1. JATS XML
2. Fig. 1. Patient, 76 years old, with uremic pruritus: Diffuse grayish pigmentation due to chronic friction is visible on the skin of the shoulders and supra-scapular areas. In the upper third of the back there are multiple solar lentigos, few seborrheic keratoses and melanocytic nevi.

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3. Fig. 2. The same patient. Evolution of papulo-pustular skin toxic reaction: before treatment (a, b) and 2 weeks after the start of therapy (c, d).

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Copyright (c) 2023 Michenko A.V., Kruglova L.S., Shatokhina E.A., Lvov A.N., Simenskaya E.M., Romanov D.V., Kononenko I.B., Snegovoy A.V.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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СМИ зарегистрировано Федеральной службой по надзору в сфере связи, информационных технологий и массовых коммуникаций (Роскомнадзор).
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