Abstract
Cetuximab is a molecular target drug used to treat patients in Japan with advanced head and neck cancer. Because cetuximab is an antibody drug, attention must be paid to infusion reactions after injection. We report the case of a patient with oral cancer who suffered a severe infusion reaction after initial cetuximab injection. The patient was a male in his 60s with recurrent left maxillary gingival cancer （rT4aN2bM0, Stage ⅣA）. He was referred to our hospital and chemotherapy with paclitaxel and cetuximab was planned. Fifteen minutes after the initial infusion of cetuximab, the patient had palpitations and hot flash, and then an anaphylactic reaction （loss of consciousness, hypoxia and hypotension）. Therefore, the cetuximab infusion was stopped and emergency medical care was administered, including intratracheal intubation and medication of cardiovascular drugs, and the patient was revived. Although infusion reactions may possibly be prevented by premedication, indication for cetuximab must be carefully considered. When performing cetuximab treatment, it is necessary to prepare for emergency treatment.
