[Changes in blood iron levels during cisplatin chemotherapy. Preliminary results]

Iron levels during cisplatin chemotherapy were evaluated in 23 neoplastic patients who received a total of 59 courses of cisplatin 80-100 mg/m2. In all cases hypersideraemia developed within 24 hours: iron mean value increased from 70.5 micrograms/dl to 237.4 micrograms/dl (p less than 0.001). Return to basal levels was achieved after 8-9 days. Indirect bilirubin, lactic-dehydrogenase, haemoglobin and red cells levels remained unmodified; reticulocyte count decreased only after 4 days, so making unlikely that a drug-induced haemolysis or a reduced iron utilization by inhibitory effect of cisplatin on erithron could be the cause of hypersideraemia, which at this moment remains unexplained.