Objective: The establishment of clinical features identifying patients at a heightened risk for the development of carboplatin hypersensitivity may assist in the management of this important toxicity. Based on a previous report suggesting a history of "bee sting" allergy predicted for paclitaxel hypersensitivity, we attempted to determine if there was a relationship between a history of prior systemic allergic reactions and the subsequent development of carboplatin hypersensitivity.
Patients and methods: The medical records of all women treated in the Gynecologic Cancer Program of the Cleveland Clinic from June 1995 to May 2002 who received >6 cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy were retrospectively reviewed for a history of prior systemic hypersensitivity (e.g., medications, environmental exposure). The incidence of "positive" allergic histories was then examined in relation to the subsequent risk of patients developing either a documented carboplatin hypersensitivity reaction or a "positive" carboplatin skin test.
Results: The analysis included 174 patients (91 undergoing "carboplatin skin testing") who received > 6 courses of carboplatin. Of 53 patients with no recorded history of systemic hypersensitivity treated prior to our routine use of carboplatin skin testing, 19% experienced an allergic reaction, in contrast to a 40% incidence of a documented carboplatin reaction in 30 patients with a recorded history of hypersensitivity to a medication or environmental exposure (P < 0.05). For the 55 patients with no history of systemic hypersensitivity who underwent carboplatin skin-testing, 27% had a positive test result, in comparison to a 36% positive test rate in women with a previous history of a systemic hypersensitivity reaction recorded in the medical record (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: This analysis suggests that patients with a prior history of systemic hypersensitivity to medications or environmental exposures may be at a heightened risk for experiencing allergic reactions to carboplatin.