Does Carboplatin Rapid Desensitization Change Its Adverse Drug Reactions Other than Hypersensitivity and Efficacy in Patients With Ovarian Cancer?

PURPOSE: Rapid drug desensitization is known to be a good strategy in patients with drug hypersensitivity to chemotherapy. However, changes in maximal drug concentration and exposure time in blood through desensitization may alter other adverse reactions and efficacy of the drug. We investigated rapid desensitization for carboplatin in terms of severe adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and efficacy compared with the standard infusion. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients with recurrent ovarian cancer who received carboplatin chemotherapy from 2017 to 2019. We compared serious adverse events (SAEs), ADRs according to organ classes, time to progression (TTP), and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: Of 108 desensitization procedures performed in 21 patients, 104 were successfully accomplished (96.3%). There were compared with 271 procedures in 41 patients who received the standard infusion method. There were 8 (7.7%) SAEs in the rapid desensitization group and 34 (12.5%) in the control group. One drug-related death occurred in the rapid desensitization group. In the rapid desensitized group, except for neutropenia, there was no statistically significant increase in SAEs and over grade 3 of ADRs according to organ classes compared with the control group. In the efficacy analysis, TTP and OS were similar in the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid desensitization of carboplatin can lower the risk of immediate hypersensitivity reactions without changing the inherent effect and severe ADRs.