Fatal pulmonary toxicity in a patient treated with gefitinib for non-small cell lung cancer after previous hemolytic-uremic syndrome due to gemcitabine.

Gefitinib is a low-molecular-weight epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. To date, gefitinib has been administered to over 65 000 people worldwide. The most commonly reported adverse events were diarrhea, acne-like skin rash, nausea, vomiting and asthenia. Most of them were transient and mild in severity. Interstitial lung disease in patients who have been treated with gefitinib is uncommon and has recently been described with an estimated incidence rate of around 1%. We present here a case of fatal drug-induced pulmonary toxicity after therapy with gefitinib for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. The patient had been treated with gemcitabine and cisplatin, and developed drug-induced hemolytic-uremic syndrome 6 months before gefitinib use.