Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Oct 24, 2024; 15(10): 1309-1314
Published online Oct 24, 2024. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v15.i10.1309
Acute severe hypokalemia caused by treatment of tongue squamous cell carcinoma with docetaxel and cisplatin: A case report
Hong-Mei Jiang, Rong Sun, Bing-Jie Ning, Xue-Qin Yang, Xiao-Ju Zhu
Hong-Mei Jiang, Rong Sun, Bing-Jie Ning, Xue-Qin Yang, Xiao-Ju Zhu, Department of Cancer Center, Daping Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing 400042, China
Co-first authors: Hong-Mei Jiang and Rong Sun.
Author contributions: Jiang HM was the patients’ supervisor nurse, who carried out the study, reviewed the literature, contributed to manuscript drafting, and was responsible for revising the manuscript for important intellectual content; Sun R, Ning BJ, and Yang XQ reviewed the literature and contributed to manuscript drafting; Jiang HM, Sun R, Ning BJ, Yang XQ and Zhu XJ issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Supported by the Chongqing medical scientific research project (a joint project of the Chongqing Health Commission and Science and Technology), No. 2020ZY023716.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained for the chemotherapy.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiao-Ju Zhu, MSc, RN, Associate Chief Nurse, Teacher, Department of Cancer Center, Daping Hospital, Army Medical University, No. 10 Changjiang Zhilu, Yuzhong District, Chongqing 400042, China. 277264923@qq.com
Received: March 4, 2024
Revised: August 23, 2024
Accepted: September 6, 2024
Published online: October 24, 2024
Processing time: 208 Days and 17.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The patient with tongue squamous cell carcinoma who had severe hypokalemia combined with hypomagnesaemia on the third cycle of docetaxel combined with cisplatin chemotherapy, and recovered to normal after active potassium supplementation and other measures. After analysis, it was considered that the occurrence of hypokalemia in this patient may be related to docetaxel therapy, and docetaxel may cause increased potassium ion (K+) transfer into the cell, but the mechanism is still unclear. We hope to get the attention of peers through this case: For example, mechanistic studies of whether docetaxel might increase K+ to intracellular transfer, and healthy care should pay attention to any complaints and discomfort symptoms during the process of chemotherapy from cancer patients.