Risk Assessment by Pharmacist Could Prevent Toxicity in Sarcoma Patients

Multidisciplinary risk assessment by a pharmacist prior to treatment could reduce the risk of drug to drug interactions in patients with sarcoma, according to new research published in Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology.

The retrospective review included 122 patients with soft tissue and 80 patients with bone sarcoma initiating either chemotherapy (86%) or Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) (14%).

A pharmacist conducted “medication reconciliation and established an early toxicity risk assessment” using Micromedex electronic software to identify potential antitumor drug interactions.

Included trial participants received a median of 3 medications, with 34 reporting complementary use. In 243 pretherapeutic assessments, 37 major potential drug interactions were identified. Risk factors for drug-drug interaction (P<.02) included TKI (P<.0001), proton pump inhibitor (P=.026), and antidepressant (P<.001).

The pharmacist performed 157 medication reconciliations and 71 interventions in 37% of patients. Interventions were found to be associated with complementary medicines (P=.004), drugs number (P=.005), and TKI treatment (P=.0002).

“Clinical interventions on [drug-drug interactions] are more frequently required among sarcoma patients treated with TKI than [chemotherapy],” study authors concluded. “Multidisciplinary risk assessment including a medication reconciliation by a pharmacist could be crucial to prevent [drug-drug interactions] with TKI.”

Reference:
Bellesoeur A, Gataa I, Jouinot A, et al. Prevalence of drug—drug interactions in sarcoma patients: Key role of the pharmacist integration for toxicity risk management. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2021. doi:10.1007/s00280-021-04311-4