Alleviating effects of artificial tear instillation on S-1-induced ocular toxicity in dogs

S-1 is an anticancer agent that consists of tegafur, gimeracil, and oteracil potassium at a molar ratio of 1:0.4:1. S-1 is used to treat metastatic and resectable gastric cancer. However, the extensive use of S-1 in clinical practice results in watery eyes, a serious clinical problem, which worsens patients' quality of life. Although repeated instillation of artificial tears is recommended, therapy or prophylaxis against S-1-induced ocular toxicity has not been established. In the present study, we evaluated the alleviating effects of repeated artificial tear instillation on S-1-induced ocular toxicity in dogs. Ten beagle dogs (5 males and 5 females) were orally administered 3 mg/kg/day of S-1 for up to 21 days. Five drops of artificial tears were instilled to the left eye, eight times daily, within 6 hr after S-1 administration. The mean cornea staining score tended to be low in the left eye with repeated artificial tear instillation. In 4 out of 10 dogs, the corneal staining score of the left eye was more than 2-fold lower than that of the right eye. The incidence of dogs indicating normal tear drainage increased and stenosed tear drainage decreased by repeated artificial tear instillation. In conclusion, we demonstrated that artificial tear instillation can alleviate corneal surface damage induced by S-1 in dogs.