Background: The necessity of regular blood tests with the administration of immune checkpoint inhibitors has not been investigated. This study examined the safety of omitting a blood test every 2 weeks for patients with lung cancer who were injected an immune checkpoint inhibitor.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of 201 patients diagnosed with lung cancer and administered with nivolumab or durvalumab between December 1, 2015, and February 30, 2020, in a single hospital. We extracted 16 patients who had treatments without blood testing every 2 weeks.
Results: Adverse events that resulted in discontinued treatment included two cases of interstitial pneumonia, one case of creatinine increase, and one infection. All four cases were detected by chest X-ray or their symptoms.
Conclusions: Our results indicate that immune checkpoint inhibitor administration without a blood test every 2 weeks did not subject patients to more adverse side effects.
Keywords: Blood test; Durvalumab; Immune checkpoint inhibitor; Nivolumab; Non-small cell lung cancer.