Haemodynamic effects induced by intravenous administration of high doses of r-Met Hu IL-2 [ala-125] in patients with advanced cancer.

We analyzed the haemodynamic effects of high doses of r-Met Hu IL-2 [ala-125] in four patients with advanced cancer. Haemodynamic parameters were measured daily from days 1 to 6 of treatment. Mean arterial pressure decreased significantly (98 +/- 11 mmHg on day 1 versus 84 +/- 7 mmHg on day 5; p = 0.0435) as did systemic vascular resistance (2042 +/- 296 dynes s cm-5 m-2 on day 1 versus 1166 +/- 87 dynes s cm-5 m-2 on day 5; p = 0.003). There was a significant increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure (13.25 +/- 3.30 mmHg on day 1 versus 20.75 +/- 7.41 mmHg on day 5; p = 0.03), systemic oxygen consumption (173.5 +/- 37.8 ml min-1 m-2 on day 1 versus 257.8 +/- 20.5 ml min-1 m-2 on day 5; p = 0.02) and cardiac index (3.86 +/- 0.58 l min-1 m-2 on day 1 versus 5.77 +/- 0.21 l min-1 m-2 on day 5; p = 0.008). There was no significant decrease in the arteriovenous oxygen content difference (4.5 +/- 0.8 ml dl-1 on day 1 versus 4.46 +/- 0.22 ml dl-1 on day 5). Increases in oxygen delivery (570 +/- 163 ml min-1 m-2 on day 1 versus 750 +/- 109 ml min-1 m-2 on day 5 and oxygen extraction ratio (29.95% +/- 6.37% on day 1 versus 34.60% +/- 4.35% on day 5) were not statistically significant. We concluded that the haemodynamic effect induced by high doses of r Hu-IL-2 is similar to that seen in septic shock.