Symptomatic acute hypotension associated with high-dose dacarbazine

We observed several cases of hypotension associated with high-dose dacarbazine. We conducted a retrospective observational analysis of all patients treated with high-dose dacarbazine from January 2018 to August 2019 in Oscar Lambret Center, Lille, France. In our study, a total of 23 patients in outpatient care were analyzed, they underwent 57 treatment cycles. We observed 8 episodes of hypotension in 7 of the 23 consecutive treated patients (30.4%). We discuss herein several hypotheses explaining dacarbazine-induced hypotension. Dacarbazine high dose and administration methods seem to be the main causes of hypotension adverse events. Administration methods include administration duration, which should be above 2 hours, concomitant hydration with 500 ml 0.9% sodium chloride, and UV-resistant pump tube downstream the administration tree.