Reactivation of hepatitis in a bladder cancer patient receiving chemotherapy.

Reactivation of hepatitis is a serious complication of chemotherapy in hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers. There are many reports of this in lymphoma patients but few in urological cancer patients. A 59-year-old woman with bladder cancer who was an HBV carrier developed severe liver dysfunction after 2 cycles of chemotherapy. The diagnosis was reactivation of hepatitis. She improved with administration of lamivudine with a steroid and is currently well without disease. Care should be taken about the risk of reactivation when performing chemotherapy in HBV carriers and prophylaxis by lamivudine should be considered.