[Neurotoxicity with cytostatic therapy: a review]

Neurotoxicity is of increasing importance in the treatment of cancer patients. Since the dose-limiting hematological toxicity of most cytostatic drugs can now be overcome by modern supportive therapy, high-dose chemotherapy with curative intent can be used more often. Non-hematological toxicities such as neurotoxicity will therefore become dose-limiting with greater frequency, and to avoid disabling neurological side effects of chemotherapy the drug-induced neurological disturbances must be recognized before irreversible damage has occurred. The neurological side effects of the cytostatic drugs are reviewed.