Lethal tetanus infection following cytotoxic chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer

Main Article Content

Wen-Cheng Liu
Department of Internal Medicine and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

Guo-Shiou Liao
Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

Jyh-Cherng Yu
Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

Ming-Shen Dai
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center No. 325, Section 2, Cheng-Gong Road, Neihu 114, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Keywords

Tetanus, Breast cancer, Pathological complete remission, Immunization

Abstract

Tetanus is rarely seen in developed countries where there is therefore less awareness in clinical practice. Necrotic breast tumors may provide a portal of entry for serious tetanus infection. We report on a patient who acquired devastating tetanus infection from necrotic tumor following cytotoxic chemotherapy; we also review similar cases in the literature. Clinical awareness, timely treatment, and proper tetanus vaccination before surgical excision, debridement, or cytotoxic chemotherapy might be necessary to prevent this catastrophe.

Abstract 145 | PDF Downloads 66

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published
Sep 21, 2015

Article Details

How to Cite

1.
Lethal tetanus infection following cytotoxic chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer. Eur J Oncol [Internet]. 2015 Sep. 21 [cited 2024 Nov. 15];20(1):59-63. Available from: https://mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/EJOEH/article/view/4020
Issue
European Journal of Oncology Vol.20, No 1 (2015)
Section
Case reports

OPEN ACCESS

All the articles of the European Journal of Oncology and Environmental Health are published with open access under the CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that the author(s) retain copyright, but the content is free to download, distribute and adapt for commercial or non-commercial purposes, given appropriate attribution to the original article.

The articles in the previous edition of the Journal (European Journal of Oncology) are made available online with open access under the CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license (the current version is CC-BY, version 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Upon submission, author(s) grant the Journal the license to publish their original unpublished work within one year, and the non exclusive right to display, store, copy and reuse the content. The CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license enables anyone to use the publication freely, given appropriate attribution to the author(s) and citing the Journal as the original publisher. The CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license does not apply to third-party materials that display a copyright notice to prohibit copying. Unless the third-party content is also subject to a CC-BY Creative Commons attribution license, or an equally permissive license, the author(s) must comply with any third-party copyright notices.

How to Cite

1.
Lethal tetanus infection following cytotoxic chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer. Eur J Oncol [Internet]. 2015 Sep. 21 [cited 2024 Nov. 15];20(1):59-63. Available from: https://mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/EJOEH/article/view/4020