Chemotherapy-induced ileitis associated or not with colitis in digestive oncology patients: An AGEO multicentre study.

Background: The characteristics and management of ileitis induced by chemotherapy in cancer patients are poorly described in the literature.
Methods: This retrospective multicentre study enroled patients hospitalized in a digestive oncology unit for a symptomatic chemotherapy-induced ileitis.
Results: Forty-three patients were included, with a regimen based on fluoropyrimidine and/or irinotecan in 95% of cases. Five patients were excluded due to the diagnosis of infectious ileitis (Clostridium difficile in 3 patients, Campylobacter jejuni in 1 patient and cytomegalovirus in 1 patient). The most frequently described symptoms were diarrhoea (77% including 54% of grade 3-4 diarrhoea), abdominal pain (58%), fever (51%) and vomiting (56%). An ileo-colonoscopy was performed in 35% of patients and did not show any specific results or severity criteria. The ileitis was complicated by bowel perforation and/or obstruction in 3 patients. Disease progression was favourable in 1-2 weeks in the vast majority of cases, on symptomatic treatment, allowing resumption of the chemotherapy regimen involved in 67% of patients.
Conclusion: Chemotherapy-induced ileitis is a rare complication that most often involves fluoropyri-midine- and/or irinotecan-based regimens. In most cases, endoscopic examinations were not contributory and do not seem useful in the event of non-severe symptomatology which most often develops favourably on symptomatic therapy, allowing resumption of the chemotherapy involved.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Anaïs Jenvrin, Audrey Perret, Emilie Soularue, Chloé Broudin, Bastien Rance: declare no conflict of interest. Claire Gallois has participated in consulting and/or advisory boards for Servier and Sanofi, and has received support for travel to meetings from Amgen. Julien Taieb has participated in consulting and/or advisory boards for Lilly, Celgene, Shire, Servier, Merck KGaA, Sanofi, Roche Genentech, Pfizer, and Amgen. Lola-Jade Palmieri has participated in consulting and/or advisory boards for Servier, Amgen and has received support for travel to meetings from Merck, Servier.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)