Vascular toxicity following vinblastine, bleomycin, and cisplatin therapy for germ cell tumours

Vascular toxicity following the use of vinblastine, bleomycin, and cisplatin (VBP) combination chemotherapy has been described. This report gives details of five patients who suffered acute life-threatening vascular events following such a chemotherapy regimen for germ cell tumours. In three of the cases no evidence of tumour was found at autopsy. Both acute and long-term vascular toxicity were seen. Large artery vascular disease may result from synergistic toxicity of the drugs comprising the regimen. These cases, with an additional sixteen collected from the literature, suggest that major vascular disease is a significant side-effect of the VBP regimen.