Cancer patients put at risk by issues with IVs

TORONTO — The agency that oversees cancer care in Ontario says a review found hundreds of patients did not receive full doses of cancer drugs because of issues with how the intravenous medications were administered.

Cancer Care Ontario says that out of the nearly 1,000 people affected, fewer than 10 needed to receive additional treatment as a result.

But the agency says the matter is being taken seriously and guidelines for hospitals on how such drugs should be administered are being updated.

The dosing issue first arose in June when the Mississauga Hospital notified Cancer Care Ontario of medication being left behind in intravenous tubes after patients received treatment.

Cancer Care Ontario says it immediately asked all 74 Ontario hospitals that deliver cancer drug treatments to review their procedures to ensure medication was being administered properly. It says 35 hospitals reported back saying they found issues with how three drugs were being given to cancer patients. Twenty-eight found nearly 1,000 patient records where they believed patients didn’t receive proper dosing of those three drugs.

Two of the drugs are for immunotherapy, where they boost a patient’s immune system to fight cancer, said Dr. Robin McLeod, vice president of clinical programs and qualities initiatives at Cancer Care Ontario. One is for targeted therapy that identifies a gene related to cancer, she said.

The drugs are not as diluted as chemotherapy drugs are when given via an IVs tube, she said. That means if a bit of medicine is left over within IV tubes, patients could be affected, she said.

All hospitals in Ontario that identified issues have changed how they administer the drugs in light of the review, McLeod said.