Abstract
The authors describe a patient who presented with recurrent chest pain during chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).
A 69-year-old man with metastatic lung carcinoma received 5-FU 1500mg/day by continuous infusion for 5 days. He developed chest pain during the second and third courses of 5-FU infusion, but there were no ischemic changes on the electrocardiogram.
Cardiotoxicity as a rare side effect of 5-FU therapy has been reported, but its etiology remains unclear. The ischemic chest pain and EGG changes observed in most cases suggest that coronary artery spasm may be the cause of 5-FU cardiotoxicity. Although cardiotoxicity is a rare complication of 5-FU therapy, the authors think it is advisable to stop the treatment when chest pain occurs.
