Drug-induced infiltrative lung disease with weekly paclitaxel in breast cancer: Case series

Drug-induced infiltrative lung disease (DI-ILD) can be caused by chemotherapeutic agents, antibiotics, antiarrhythmic drugs, and immunosuppressive agents. Common chemotherapeutic drugs causing DI-ILD include bleomycin, mitomycin C, bis (2-chloroethyl)-l-nitrosourea, cyclophosphamide, busulfan, and methotrexate. Taxanes and trastuzumab are also associated with lung injury. Estimated incidence of paclitaxel-induced lung injury is 0.73%-12%. Although cases of paclitaxel-induced lung injury have been reported previously, we found only one published case report of fatal lung injury caused by paclitaxel use. We are reporting the largest case series of seven patients who developed paclitaxel-induced lung injury along with review of literature.