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Pembrolizumab-Induced Adrenal Insufficiency in Patients with Untreated Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Case Series

K. Sonehara, K. Tateishi, T. Araki, M. Komatsu, J. Akahane, Hiroshi Yamamoto, M. Hanaoka

Case Reports in Oncology, 2021

49 participants · 11 citations

Abstract

Pembrolizumab-induced adrenal insufficiency (AI) is recognized as a rare immune-related adverse event (irAE) that can be fatal if diagnosis is delayed. Clinical features of AI in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who received pembrolizumab as the first-line treatment were observed. Five out of 49 patients with untreated advanced NSCLC developed AI between April 2017 and February 2021. Of the 5 patients, 4 developed AI with a grade >3 and were hospitalized. The median time of the onset of AI from the start of first-line treatment was 4.63 months. All the patients improved after corticosteroid replacement therapy. The efficacy of treatment was complete response in 1 patient and partial response in 4 patients. Median progression-free survival was 37.7 months, and overall survival had not been reached. This case series revealed the efficacy of immunotherapy in AI as an irAE.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case series, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health. Reported size: 49 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

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