Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Breast Cancer

Clinical Pearls

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, medical oncologist, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in breast cancer.

• Chemotherapy-induced neuropathy is the most common dose-limiting side effect and there are not any effective therapies for treatment or prevention
• Patients take a variety of supplements or drugs in the hopes that it will help reduce the neuropathy
• Preclinical data has shown that patients who were taking supplements actually had worse neuropathy compared to patients who were taking a placebo
• Researchers analyzed carnitine levels in the blood to ensure that patients took the supplements​