Use of dexamethasone with mesna for the prevention of ifosfamide-induced hemorrhagic cystitis.

AIM: Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) is a limiting side-effect of chemotherapy with ifosfamide (IFS). In the study presented here, we investigated the use of dexamethasone in combination with mesna for the prevention of IFS-induced HC.

METHODS: Male Wistar rats (150-200 g; 6 rats per group) were treated with saline or mesna 5 min (i.p.) before and 2 and 6 h after (v.o.) administration of IFS. One, two or three doses of mesna were replaced with dexamethasone alone or with dexamethasone plus mesna. Cystitis was evaluated 24 h after its induction by the changes in bladder wet weight and by macroscopic and microscopic analysis.

RESULTS: The replacement of the last dose or the last two doses of mesna with dexamethasone reduced the increase in bladder wet weight induced by IFS by 84.79% and 89.13%, respectively. In addition, it almost abolished the macroscopic and microscopic alterations induced by IFS. Moreover, the addition of dexamethasone to the last two doses of mesna was more efficient than three doses of mesna alone when evaluated microscopically.

CONCLUSION: Dexamethasone in combination with mesna was efficient in blocking IFS-induced HC. However, the replacement of last two doses of mesna with saline or all of the mesna doses with dexamethasone did not prevent HC.