Lenvatinib-induced multiorgan adverse events in Hurthle cell thyroid cancer: A case report

BACKGROUND

The management of metastatic progressive radioiodine-resistant differentiated thyroid cancer remains challenging for clinicians. The availability of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), sorafenib and lenvatinib, within the last decade has expanded treatment options; however, these lead to significant adverse effects, which may curtail their use.

CASE SUMMARY

We report the case of a 47-year-old female with Hurthle cell thyroid cancer who underwent total thyroidectomy followed by radioiodine ablation. During follow-up, she developed noniodine-avid renal and pulmonary metastases. With respect to her pre-existing diabetes, hypertension, and polycystic kidney disease, the tumor board decided against performing renal metastasectomy because of the risk of future renal decline requiring dialysis. Metastases were treated using sorafenib, which provided stability followed by progression within a year. We switched to lenvatinib, which led to disease regression. However, the patient experienced severe adverse effects, including cardiomyopathy, bicytopenia, renal impairment, and the rarely reported nephrotic syndrome. Renal metastasis is a rare manifes-tation of Hurthle cell thyroid cancer with only two reported cases in literature. We report the experience of our first case of renal metastasis and its treatment with TKIs. This case serves as a reminder of the adverse drug reactions associated with TKI use.

CONCLUSION

We advocate close monitoring of patients’ hematological and renal profiles as well as their cardiac status using an echocardiogram.

Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS CoV): case reports from a tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome caused by novel coronavirus (MERS CoV) has been a major public health challenge since it was first described in 2012 in Saudi Arabia. So far, there is no effective treatment for this serious illness, which features a high mortality rate. We report an initial experience of the use of ribavirin and interferon (IFN)-a2b in the management of MERS CoV at a tertiary care hospital.

DESIGN AND SETTINGS

A case series of 6 patients admitted with a confirmed diagnosis of MERS CoV were treated with ribavirin and IFN-a2b in addition to supportive management. The patients' demographics, clinical parameters, and outcomes were recorded. Fifty-four close contacts of these patients were screened for MERS CoV.

METHODS

Six patients with MERS CoV infection were included in this study. Four cases featured symptomatic disease, including pneumonia and respiratory failure, while 2 were asymptomatic close contacts of the MERS CoV patients. The MERS CoV infection was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction detection of the consensus viral RNA targets upstream of the E gene (UPE) and open reading frame (ORF1b) on a sputum sample. The patients' demographics, comorbid conditions, time to diagnosis and initiation of treatment, and clinical outcomes were recorded.

RESULTS

Three out of 6 patients who had comorbid conditions died during the study period, while 3 had suc.cessful outcomes. The diagnosis and treatment was delayed by an average of 15 days in those patients who died. Only 2 close contacts out of the 54 screened (3.7%) were positive for MERS CoV.

CONCLUSION

Treatment with ribavirin and IFN-a2b may be effective in patients infected with MERS CoV. There appears to be a low infectivity rate among close contacts of MERS CoV patients.