Metastatic Breast Cancer Treatment After Abemaciclib-Related Liver Injury — Case 1

This breast cancer diagnosis at a glance

Stage at diagnosis
Stage IV
Sex
female
Treatment
hormone therapy and targeted therapy
Outcome
Care Ongoing

Treatment course, step by step

  1. She started letrozole with abemaciclib.
  2. Abemaciclib was stopped after severe liver injury on day 29 while letrozole continued.
  3. After liver tests improved, she switched to palbociclib and had no recurrent liver dysfunction.

What happened, in summary

A 72-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer began letrozole together with abemaciclib. Within 29 days, her ALT rose to 586 IU/L, indicating severe liver injury. Abemaciclib was stopped, while letrozole was continued. Over about 1 month, the ALT level fell by roughly half. Abemaciclib was not restarted. After her liver function improved, she switched to palbociclib so that CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment could continue. Her ALT remained stable after the switch, with no recurrence of the liver dysfunction. The main challenge in her course was maintaining systemic treatment while avoiding another episode of severe liver injury.

Where this story comes from

This is a lay summary of an account first published by PMC / PubMed Central. Read the original in full

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