Consideration of Preventing Local Venous Pain by Dacarbazine

Local venous pain caused by dacarbazine (DTIC) injection is due to its photodegradation product 5-diazoimidazole-4-carboxamide (Diazo-IC). The production of Diazo-IC can be decreased by protecting the drug from light. Furthermore, the production of Diazo-IC reportedly increases with time; however, there are no studies reporting the association between the injection preparation time and local venous pain caused by the DTIC injection. We evaluated the efficacy of the following: (1) method used to shorten the injection preparation time and (2) method used to change the diluting solution for DTIC. We found that shortening the injection preparation time tended to decrease the local venous pain expression due to DTIC, and Veen F decreased the production of Diazo-IC compared with the normal saline and 5% glucose solution. These results indicate that shortening the injection preparation time may be effective in preventing the local venous pain caused by the DTIC injection; moreover, using Veen F for DTIC may also reduce the pain.