A rare but life-threatening pneumopathy induced by Olaparib: From a clinical case to a review of literature

The diagnosis of drug-induced pneumopathy remains a challenge for clinicians, particularly in oncology field in which many new drugs are more and more used and induce uncommon adverse events by targeting specific pathways. We report the case of a patient with ovarian cancer who developed a rapidly progressive and life-threatening pneumopathy after initiation of olaparib. High dose of corticosteroids rapidly (in 3 days) improved the symptoms, decreased the oxygen supply and led to normalization of lung imaging. Olaparib-induced pneumopathy is rarely reported in literature. We discuss about the role of Poly (ADP-Ribose) polymerase (PARP) enzyme in the lung homeostasis and highlight the importance of consider high-doses steroids when suspecting this specific drug-induced pneumopathy.