123 Gemcitabine-related radiation recall as a cause of focal myositis and muscle necrosis
IntroductionRadiation recall is a phenomenon in which chemotherapy triggers an inflammatory response in tissue previously subjected to radiation therapy. A wide variety of agents have been implicated. Cutaneous tissue is most frequently affected but other tissue can be involved; myositis has been associated with administration of gemcitabine in particular. Incidence has been estimated at less than 6% and the pathophysiology is not understood. We present a case report from Gosford Hospital, with the additional feature of positive SRP antibodies.CaseA 74 year old female presented with a one day history of left hip pain and inability to weight bear. She had been diagnosed with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung five months earlier and underwent palliative radiotherapy to a left acetabular metastasis. 12 days prior to presentation she completed her second cycle of chemotherapy with carboplatin and gemcitabine. Pre- and post-contrast CT and MRI demonstrated necrosis in left sartorius, with foci of myositis in other muscles of the thigh, and surrounding soft tissue oedema. Symptoms improved after chemotherapy was ceased. Myositis antibody studies subsequently revealed low level positive Ku and SRP antibodies.ConclusionRadiation recall should be considered in the differential diagnosis of myositis in oncology patients. The serum of our patient contained SRP antibodies, which are associated with immune mediated necrotising myopathy. A previous case study reported gemcitabine-induced radiation recall muscle necrosis associated with dermatomyositis. These findings hint that radiation recall myositis may occur in the setting of a predisposition to immune mediated myopathy.