Assessment of Patient’s Response about Adverse Drug Reactions Receiving AC (Adriamycin, Cyclophosphamide) Therapy: A Survey Research

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are most common among cancer patients receiving treatment. AC therapy which is a combination protocol of Adriamycin (doxorubicin) and Cyclophosphamide are the common therapies used for breast cancer treatment due to their effectiveness and cost of therapy breast cancer. AC combination is administered every 3 weeks, and 4 cycles are given.

Objectives: To assess various ADRs reported by patients on AC combination therapy and their severity to ensure safe and effective treatment.

Design: Prospective observational.

Setting: Cancer hospital Jamshoro Pakistan.

Patients and Methods: A hospital based observational study included 160 female patients suffering from breast cancer and receiving AC combination for treatment by purposive sampling method from June 2015- January 2018 at cancer hospital Jamshoro Pakistan. ADRs reported were compared against international standard references of drug literature such as British National Formulary (BNF) 2017 and ADR severity assessment scale (Modified Hartwig and Siegel scale).

Main Outcome Measures: Frequency and severity of ADRs.

Results: The common ADRs reported were, nausea and vomiting, acidity, fatigue, hair fall as common non-hematologic and leukopenia among hematologic ADRs. Those patients reported high severity ADRs according to severity scale persist for longer duration and required antidote for management with medical intervention.

Conclusion: The present study shows that a patient’s response towards AC therapy is critical and therefore each patient must be monitored and those at high risk of developing ADRs from this therapy must be provided additional care.