Adverse Infusion-Related Event Severity in Oncology Patients Receiving Chemotherapy Agents vs. Immunotherapy Agents

In recent years, immunotherapy investigational drugs in cancer research has been underway in treating multiple forms of cancer due to a lower side effect profile and decreased severe infusion-reaction risk compared to conventional chemotherapy agents. The purpose of this study was to determine the infusion reaction severity among patients receiving either chemotherapy treatment or immunotherapy agents based on the CTCAE (Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events) scale to improve patient care outcomes. In this intent-to-treat, retrospective observational study, a survey of patients throughout 10 Intermountain Healthcare infusion clinics was conducted to obtain documentation on patients who had received chemotherapy and/or immunotherapy agents as part of their cancer therapy course and their respective adverse events that had occurred during infusion time. Data was abstracted on a total of 295 patients, both men and women, between the ages of 2-90 years old. Among these participants, a total of 140 patients had met inclusion criteria for study enrollment. The level of severity of reaction event was determined using CTCAE scale 1-5. Among the participants, data showed that 90 patients (0.64 percent) who had received chemotherapy agents during their cancer treatment saw infusion-related adverse effects with the level of severity among this group averaging at a 2 (reaction prompting medication intervention) compared to 50 patients (0.36 percent) who received immunotherapy. Patients who were noted to have adverse events at a level 3 severity between both groups of patients that warranted early termination of treatment and prompted immediate medical attention included 5 patients receiving chemotherapy and 1 patient receiving immunotherapy. A chi-square test of independence showed there was no statistical significance between patients who received chemotherapy and immunotherapy based on the severity of the infusion-related event X2(1, N=140) = 0.99, p \u3c0.05. Although the findings this study were not statistically significant between patients receiving chemotherapy compared to patients receiving immunotherapy agents to effectively treat cancer diagnoses, the study did show clinical significance based on the reaction incidence and level of severity and the tolerance to treatment