According to a new study published in the journal Annals of Oncology, researchers from the Netherlands have found that clinical interventions on drug-drug interactions are frequently required among ambulatory patients with cancer starting anticancer treatment.
Drug-drug interactions are a major concern in oncology because patients may take many concomitant medications.
Therefore, researchers sought to investigate the total number of clinical interventions on drug-drug interactions among a sample of ambulatory patients with cancer starting anticancer treatment.
The researchers enrolled 302 patients. Drug interaction software identified 603 drug-drug interactions among these patients, and an expert team of clinical pharmacologists determined that 120 of those among 81 patients were potentially clinically relevant.
Of those, 13% already had a clinical intervention executed by the hemato(oncologist), but the clinical pharmacologists proposed an additional intervention in 14% of patients. The researchers identified the number of over-the-counter medications and the number of comorbidities as determinants.
The findings suggest that structured screening by (hemato)oncologists and clinical pharmacologists/pharmacists for potentially clinically relevant drug-drug interventions should occur prior to and during anticancer treatment.
Clinical interventions on drug-drug interactions are frequently required among ambulatory patients with cancer starting anticancer treatment.
This prospective study was designed to identify DDIs leading to interventions among ambulatory cancer patients receiving anticancer treatment. Clinical interventions on DDIs are frequently required among patients starting with anticancer therapy.