title: Acute Fatal Liver Toxicity under Erlotinib.
abstract: We describe the case of a never-smoker who received second-line erlotinib as a treatment for his non-small cell lung cancer. Within one month, acute hepatic failure developed as well as a thrombotic-thrombocytopenic microangiopathy, with fatal outcome. In patients with non-small cell lung cancer, hepatic toxicity of erlotinib is a rare but severe complication; so far three fatal cases have been reported. Patients' liver function should be assessed before starting erlotinib and special care is recommended if pretreatment bilirubin is elevated.
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Winterthur, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schacher-Kaufmann
authors.forename: Miklos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pless