Canalicular stenosis secondary to docetaxel (taxotere): A newly recognized side effect
Section snippets
Patients and methods
Patient A, a 37-year-old woman, was treated for metastatic breast cancer with docetaxel. She received weekly docetaxel, 40 mg/m2 (75 mg) intravenously, with dexamethasone coverage, in combination with trastuzumab (Herceptin, Genentech, San Francisco, CA) for a total of 20 doses. She experienced fluid retention secondary to docetaxel, and the cancer worsened on treatment. She was referred to the ophthalmology clinic approximately 2 months after discontinuation of docetaxel with a chief complaint
Discussion
Excessive tearing, presumably as a result of conjunctivitis, has been described as a side effect of docetaxel treatment.7 We described three patients in whom epiphora developed secondary to punctal or canalicular stenosis during treatment with docetaxel. Canalicular stenosis has been described in association with other chemotherapeutic agents such as 5-fluorouracil,8, 9 but, to our knowledge, it has not been reported as a side effect of docetaxel. The mechanism of canalicular stenosis could be
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