Excessive watering eyes in gastric cancer patients receiving S-1 chemotherapy

Abstract

Background: Watering eyes is a common late adverse event associated with S-1 chemotherapy; however, the frequency and predictive factors are not known. Methods: This study included 304 consecutive gastric cancer patients treated with adjuvant S-1 monotherapy for 1 year at Shizuoka Cancer Center. We retrospectively evaluated the frequency of watering eyes, and explored other nonhematological adverse events during the first course of S-1 monotherapy which could become predictive factors for watering eyes. Results: The severest grade of watering eyes during S-1 monotherapy was grade 2 in 41 patients (13.5 %) and grade 3 in 36 patients (11.8 %). The median time to onset of grade 2 and grade 3 watering eyes was 82 days (range 6–344 days) and 249 days (range 84–653 days), respectively, and the median cumulative S-1 dose at the onset of grade 2 and grade 3 watering eyes was 4174 mg/m2 (range 491–16,095 mg/m2) and 10,243 mg/m2 (range 4943–16,341 mg/m2), respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that anorexia (odds ratio 2.37, P = 0.008), oral mucositis (odds ratio 3.86, P = 0.0003), skin hyperpigmentation (odds ratio 3.84, P = 0.0001), and rash (odds ratio 3.76, P = 0.01) observed during the first course were significantly associated with watering eyes. Conclusion: The risk of watering eyes was higher in patients who also had anorexia, oral mucositis, skin hyperpigmentation, or rash during first course of S-1 monotherapy than in those without them.