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CASE REPORT article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1366271
This article is part of the Research Topic Case Reports in Frontiers in Gastroenterology View all 8 articles

Fatal Overwhelming Post-Splenectomy Infection in a Patient with Metastatic Angiosarcoma Treated with Immunotherapy

Provisionally accepted

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    A patient in his 40s with splenic angiosarcoma metastatic to the liver underwent splenectomy, chemotherapy, and partial hepatectomy before being treated on a clinical trial with CTLA4 and PD1 inhibitors. He had received pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccines post-splenectomy.On week 10, he developed grade 3 immune-related colitis, successfully treated with the antitumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitor infliximab and steroids. After 4 cycles of treatment, scans showed partial response. He resumed anti-PD1 therapy, and 6 hours after the second dose of anti-PD1 he presented to the emergency room with hematemesis, hematochezia, hypotension, fever, and oxygen desaturation. Laboratory tests demonstrated acute renal failure and septicemia (Streptococcus pneumoniae). He died 12 hours after the anti-PD1 infusion from overwhelming post-splenectomy infection (OPSI). Autopsy demonstrated non-viable liver tumors among other findings. In conclusion, patients undergoing immunotherapy and with prior history of asplenia should be monitored closely for OPSI as they may be at increased risk.

    Keywords: OPSI, Infection - immunology, Immunotherapy, Splenectomy, CTLA 4

    Received: 05 Jan 2024; Accepted: 28 Mar 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Torrado Martin, Baysal, Chakraborty, Norris, Khawaja and Tsimberidou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Apostolia Maria Tsimberidou, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, 77030, Texas, United States

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