Assessment of Potential Drug-Drug Interactions in Hospitalized Cancer Patients

Abstract

Drug-Drug interactions are the altered pharmacological effects of drugs due to their interactions with another drug. Cancer patients are more prone to these types of interactions since concomitant use of multiple therapeutic ingredients is a common practice for managing the disease. The outcomes of these interactions can be detrimental as far as the quality of care is concerned. These events can not only prolong the stay of patient at the hospital but also have economic implications since the cancer treatment is very expensive. A failure to achieve the optimal therapeutic response and at times progression of disease state due to a possible delayed response of the drugs are examples of possible consequences of serious drug-drug interactions. A study was conducted at a tertiary care health setup to detect, report and identify potential drug-drug interactions in hospitalized cancer patients. All the prescribed/ administered pharmaceuticals were recorded and checked using credible drug references. Majority of the cases involved dexamethasone as one of the interacting drugs. Among the totally observed cases of drug interactions with dexamethasone more than 80% have shown that it minimizes the effect of the interacting co-administered pharmaceutical. Future studies should continue to investigate the mechanism of action in order to explore the prescription intervention avoiding such interaction.