Emphysematous cholecystitis in a patient with gastrointestinal stromal tumor treated with sunitinib

A 50-year-old man had a metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor that was refractory to imatinib. He was prescribed a 6-week course of treatment with oral sunitinib 50 mg/day. During the fourth week of his first cycle of treatment with the drug, the patient developed acute-onset, right upper quadrant pain associated with nausea, vomiting, and fever; laboratory tests revealed leukocytosis and mild hyperbilirubinemia. He was diagnosed with acute emphysematous cholecystitis, which was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics and percutaneous cholecystostomy. His symptoms resolved, and he successfully completed his course of therapy with sunitinib. Using the Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale, a score of 5 was derived, which indicates that the likelihood was probable that this adverse event was caused by sunitinib.