[Search for Factors Related to Vascular Pain Expression upon Administration of Oxaliplatin into a Peripheral Vein]

We investigated the relationship between vascular pain and various characteristics (age, sex, cancer stage, performance status [PS], height, weight, body mass index [BMI], body surface area, oxaliplatin dose, and presence and absence of the initial administration of dexamethasone) in colorectal cancer patients who were administered initial doses of oxaliplatin intravenously. The study population included 29 patients treated at Higashi Totsuka Memorial Hospital between June 2010 and April 2014. One-way analysis of variance showed that vascular pain was significantly associated with weight (p=0.015), body surface area (p=0.013), and oxaliplatin doses (p=0.0026), where the significance level was p=0.05. Logistic regression analysis and the likelihood ratio test demonstrated that the likelihood of vascular pain increased with the increase in the oxaliplatin dose. According to the cut-off value of vascular pain determined using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, a single dose of oxaliplatin was determined to be 175 mg or more. According to the cut-off value established using the ROC analysis, a single dose of oxaliplatin at which vascular pain is expressed was determined to be 175 mg or more. At this dose, 13 patients complained of vascular pain and 8 did not. At doses less than 175 mg, none of the 8 patients complained of vascular pain. These results suggest that lowering the diluted concentration and reducing the infusion rate of intravenously administered oxaliplatin may reduce vascular pain.