The Incidence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes With 5-Fluorouracil–Associated Coronary Vasospasm
Amna Zafar, Zsófia D. Drobni, Ramya Mosarla, Raza M. Alvi, Matthew Lei, Uvette Lou, Vineet K. Raghu, Sean Murphy, Maeve Jones‐O’Connor, Sarah Hartmann, Hannah Gilman, Colin D. Weekes, John R. Clark, Jeffrey W. Clark, Lawrence S. Blaszkowsky, Erica Tavares, Tomas G. Neilan
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Coronary vasospasm is a recognized side effect of 5-FU (fluorouracil). There are limited and conflicting data on the incidence, risk factors and prognostic effect of 5-FU associated vasospasm. OBJECTIVES: To assess the incidence, risk factors and prognostic implications of 5-FU coronary vasospasm among patients receiving 5-FU regimens at a single tertiary care center. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all patients who received 5-FU at a single academic center from January 2009 to July 2019. Vasospasm was defined as the occurrence of a typical chest pain syndrome in the presence of 5-FU. The presence of associated electrocardiogram (ECG) changes and/or elevated biomarkers was used to further confirm the diagnosis. Patients with vasospasm were compared to patients treated with 5-FU without vasospasm in a 1:2 ratio. Data regarding demographics, medical history, and follow-up were collected by manual chart review. RESULTS: From approximately 4019 individual patients who received 5-FU from 2009 to 2019 at a single center, 87 (2.16%) developed vasospasm. Patients who developed vasospasm were younger (58±13 vs. 64±13 years, P = 0.001), and were less likely to have any cardiovascular risk factors (70.1% vs. 84.5%, P = 0.007). Patients with vasospasm and patients without vasospasm were otherwise similar in terms of types of cancer, stage of cancer, sex, and race. There was no significant difference in progression-free survival, overall mortality or cancer specific mortality between patients who developed vasospasm versus those who did not. CONCLUSION: In a large, single-center report of 5-FU associated vasospasm, patients who developed vasospasm were younger, had lower rates of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and had no significant difference in progression-free or overall survival compared to those who did not develop vasospasm.