Compression therapy using surgical gloves and elastic stockings to prevent chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Background: No effective treatment for chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) has been established. Clinicians generally tend to neglect CIPN, but CIPN greatly impairs a patient9s quality of life. In addition, if treatment is interrupted or the drug is reduced due to CIPN, the antitumor effect is reduced. Therefore, prevention of CIPN is important. CIPN is particularly problematic in chemotherapy that includes taxane anticancer drugs for patients with advanced lung cancer. Methods: During chemotherapy including taxane in advanced lung cancer, we adopted the following compression therapy. The patient wore two surgical gloves, one size smaller than expected, on both hands and elastic stockings, one size smaller than expected, on both feet. Chemotherapy was given as usual. We assessed the incidence of grade 2 or higher CIPN (NCI-CTCAE) and the tolerability of compression therapy. Results: The median size of surgical gloves used was 5.5 for women and 6.0 for men. In our cases, no severe CIPN occurred. In some cases, chemotherapy was completed with G0. No patients were discontinued due to adverse effects of compression therapy itself. Discussion: Compression therapy with surgical gloves and elastic stockings was considered useful for preventing severe CIPN. This compression therapy is inexpensive, available at any facility, and well tolerated. This method is considered cost-effective and prospective studies will be needed in future.