Pulmonary Toxicities of Anticancer Treatment

Many malignancies give rise to pulmonary complications resulting in symptoms such as breathlessness and cough. The presence of comorbidities, especially in older cancer patients, can also contribute to pulmonary symptoms. In addition, all modalities of anticancer treatments can be associated with pulmonary toxicities which cause similar symptoms and functional changes. These may be acute or develop slowly and may become chronic. Some pulmonary complications of anticancer treatments cause serious impairment of quality of life and may be life-threatening. In this chapter we review the pulmonary toxicities associated with conventional cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents, as well as the newer biologically targeted treatments including the immune checkpoint inhibitors. Complications following surgery and radiation therapy are also reviewed.