Journal of Clinical Case Reports

Recurrent Interstitial Lung Disease Induced By Various Therapies for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Yu Saida, Satoshi Watanabe, Junko Baba, Jun Koshio, Rie Kondo, Masaaki Okajima, Satoru Miura, Tetsuya Abe, Hiroshi Tanaka, Junta Tanaka, Hiroshi Kagamu, Hirohisa Yoshizawa and Ichiei Narita

Erlotinib is a human epidermal growth factor receptor type 1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor which is used for non-small cell lung cancer treatment. Interstitial lung disease has been reported as an adverse event of erlotinib. We report the case of a 39-year-old man with erlotinib-induced interstitial lung disease in a non-small cell lung cancer patient. Although interstitial lung disease had improved by steroid therapy, palliative radiotherapy recalled the pneumonitis beyond the radiation fields. After the pneumonitis was well controlled, the patient was started on irinotecan, but the interstitial lung disease recurred shortly thereafter. We may have to abandon further cytotoxic therapies to avoid the recurrence of interstitial lung disease in patients who develop erlotinib-induced interstitial lung disease once.