Bleomycin lung: the effect of different chemotherapeutic regimens

A review of hard-copy computed tomography (CT) images of patients who had undergone chemotherapy for testicular teratoma revealed that the incidence of lung toxicity appeared to be lower in those who had received bleomycin by slow infusion [EBCi (3) regimen, etoposide/bleomycin/cisplatin] rather than by intravenous bolus [PVB regimen, cisplatin/vinblastine/bleomycin; BEP (5) regimen, bleomycin/etoposide/cisplatin]. This difference reached statistical significance only for PVB vs EBCi (3) (t = 2.63, P less than 0.01). Nevertheless, in view of continuing reports of mortality resulting from bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in patients receiving the drug by i.v. bolus, further exploration of these results is clearly justified.