Risk of Leukemia after Platinum-Based Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer

Cisplatin and carboplatin are among the most important drugs introduced during the past three decades for the treatment of cancer. These derivatives of platinum have a central role in chemotherapy for patients with cancers of the ovary, testis, bladder, lung, endometrium, and head and neck. The platinum compounds, however, are carcinogenic in vitro and in laboratory animals, 1 producing intrastrand and interstrand DNA cross-links in a manner similar to that of bifunctional alkylating agents. 2 The development of leukemia in patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy has been noted in case reports, 1 but few analytic studies have estimated the risk of leukemia after . . .