Back to Search
Start Over
Breeching 'The Goldilocks Zone': Tetraplegia as a Rare Life-Altering Infective Complication of Adjuvant Breast Cancer Chemotherapy
- Source :
- Archives of Breast Cancer. 10:93-98
- Publication Year :
- 2022
- Publisher :
- Archives of Breast Cancer, 2022.
-
Abstract
- Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy has been an integral component of breast cancer care for decades. Advances in supportive care have been made, but despite this, infective complications of therapy remain a significant toxicity concern. Case Presentation: A premenopausal patient presented to the emergency department during the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic with sepsis after a second course of adjuvant docetaxel-cyclophosphamide chemotherapy. Overnight she developed tetraplegia. An urgent MRI cervical spine revealed a pre-vertebral, vertebral, and epidural abscess. This was treated with an emergency C4-C7 posterior cervical laminectomy and decompression. Her inpatient care involved a protracted ICU admission followed by rehabilitation. She remains tetraplegic and requires continued inpatient care over a year after presentation. Restricted pandemic-related hospital visiting has compounded the impact of her illness. Conclusion: Infective complications of adjuvant breast cancer chemotherapy remain an issue despite advances in supportive care. This case highlights the devastating, life-altering impact that these complications can have as emphasized by the inclusion of the patient’s perspective.
- Subjects :
- General Medicine
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 23830433 and 23830425
- Volume :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Archives of Breast Cancer
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........211e5ea35f4394c18980cb7ac4a3a03d