CHEMOTHERAPY-RELATED PERSISTENT INDIRECT HYPERBILIRUBINEMIA

In spite of the improvement on chemotherapy results in treating testic ular cancer and the introduction of adjuvant chemotherapy to node nega tive (as well as node positive) breast cancer patients, there is still present a wide spectrum of early and late toxic manifestations. The c ombination of clsplatin, vinblastine and bleomycin given to testicular cancer might result in cariovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal and renal problems. Late effects of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil given to breast cancer patients might cause obesity, a menorrhea and infertility. We report a persistent asymptomatic indirec t hyperbilirubinemia which was observed in two cancer patients (breast ; testis) 3 and 14 months following the cessation of chemotherapy. Met astatic liver disease and involvement of other sites, as weft as other causes of hyperbilirubinemia, were excluded. The exact cause of the i ndirect hyperbilirubinemia remained obscure.