Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence of diabetes mellitus (DM) influences the incidence and severity of peripheral sensory neuropathy (PSN) in patients using taxane therapy.
A retrospective single-center analysis was conducted: Patients with PSN at baseline were excluded. The incidence of PSN was evaluated retrospectively in patient subgroups who received taxane arm and taxane-plus-platinum-agents combination arm with or without known DM at baseline.
Three hundred seventy-four patients were enrolled in this study, 81 (21.6 %) of patients had DM at baseline. The incidence of grade 1 PSN (non-DM/DM) in patients receiving taxane-based chemotherapy was 33.4/25.9 % and more than grade 2 PSN (non-DM/DM) was 15/34.6 %. The rate of neuropathy of non-diabetic patients was 48.8 %, while the rate of diabetic patients was 52.8 and 75 % in DM duration below 5 years and above 5 years group, respectively.
This retrospective analysis indicates that taxane-based therapy in DM patients whose disease duration is above 5 years appears to affect the incidence and severity of PSN without known baseline neuropathy. The probability of PSN with taxane-based therapy was similar in DM duration below 5 years and non-DM patients.
