Case Report: Lomustine overdose in a 15-year-old, healthy adolescent-a prescription failure

Front Pediatr. 2024 Feb 12:12:1339597. doi: 10.3389/fped.2024.1339597. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Lomustine is an oral chemotherapy drug commonly used in pediatric neuro-oncology. We report on a 15-year-old formerly healthy boy, who was erroneously prescribed lomustine instead of an antibiotic for tonsillitis. He subsequently suffered from prolonged bone marrow aplasia with secondary fever in neutropenia and ubiquitous bleeding. Bone marrow regeneration started approximately 7 weeks after lomustine intake. No other permanent organ damage has been detected thus far. Oral chemotherapeutic drugs should only be prescribed by experts and dispensed in the smallest possible pack size.

Keywords: adverse events; chemotherapeutic; lomustine; oncology; overdose; pediatric; prescription.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.