Bortezomib is the first clinically available proteasome inhibitor that is clinically effective in the treatment of multiple myeloma. A proteasome inhibitor acts through multiple mechanisms to arrest tumor growth, tumor spread, and angiogenesis. The ma...
Bortezomib is the first clinically available proteasome inhibitor that is clinically effective in the treatment of multiple myeloma. A proteasome inhibitor acts through multiple mechanisms to arrest tumor growth, tumor spread, and angiogenesis. The main adverse effects of bortezomib are gastrointestinal symptoms, cytopenia, fatigue, and peripheral neuropathy. To date, severe paralytic ileus has not been reported as a toxic effect of bortezomib treatment in multiple myeloma. Bortezomib is a novel agent that has only been used clinically for 30 months, so a need exists to further evaluate its toxicity. We report a case of grade Ⅲ (NCI CTCAE v3.0) or grade Ⅳ(SWOG toxicity criteria) paralytic ileus in a 65-year-old man with relapsed multiple myeloma who underwent one cycle of single-agent bortezomib treatment scheduled in a 21-day cycle (1.3 mg/㎥ as a single i.v. bolus on days 1, 4, 8, and 11).