Acral erythema secondary to high-dose cytosine arabinoside with pain worsened by cyclosporine infusions

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Abstract
Acral erythema after high-dose cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) has been described as a painful, sharply demarcated, and intense erythema of the palms and soles. This phenomenon occurred and is described in three out of three allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients who received high-dose Ara-C and total-body irradiation for conditioning therapy via the same protocol. These patients also received cyclosporine and methotrexate as prophylaxis for acute graft-versus-host disease. Two of the three patients experienced an increase in the pain associated with acral erythema during cyclosporine infusions and required large doses of narcotic analgesics. Since alcohol intensifies the pain of stomatitis and cyclosporine is manufactured in an alcohol base, the high alcohol content is suspect as the causative factor for this adverse reaction/drug interaction.