Toxic Side-effects of Micro-pump and Intravenous Drip of Epirubicin

Objective To compare the toxic side-effects of Micro-pump and Intravenous Drip of Epirubicin. Methods Sixty-five cases were chosen for the study, with 46 cases with breast cancer and 19 with malignant lymphoma, and they were divided at random into two groups: Micro-pump group (n=31) and Intravenous Drip (n=34). The two groups were given the same dose of Epirubicin （70 mg/m2）. Routine tests of blood, myocardial enzyme and electrocardiograms were detected before and after each chemotherapy. Results Nine to eleven days after the chemotherapy, the number of leukocytes had dropped to the lowest level and the Ⅳ marrow constraint rate was 22.5% in the micro-pump group. In contrast, the number of leukocytes reaches its lowest level seven to nine days after the chemotherapy in the Intravenous Drip group and the IV marrow constraint rate was 8.8%. There was statistic significance. Although the number of myocardial enzyme was increased in both groups after the chemotherapy, results of the Intravenous Drip group were statistic, but not clinical significance. Results of the micro-pump group yield neither statistic nor clinical significance. According to electrocardiograms, after four courses of chemotherapy, ST-T change had taken place in 80% cases of the micro-pump group, whereas 90% in Intravenous Drip groups was ST-T change after three courses of chemotherapy and 20% of the cases (7/34) had symptoms such as palpitation, chest distress, precordial distress and an increase of heart rate by 10 to 20 beatsper minute. In addition, four cases were found suffering oral mucitis in the micro-pump group, accounting for 12.9%(4/31), whereas only one case was found with the same symptom in the Intravenous Drip group. Conclusion Micro-pump of Epirubicin is likely to reduce the toxic-effects of Epirubicin on heart, but may postpone its constraint on marrow, and lead to a higher frequency of the IV marrow constraint and oral mucitis.