Anthracycline extravasation: a comprehensive review of experimental and clinical treatments.

An accidental extravasation of anthracycline-containing chemotherapy is a feared complication that may lead to necrosis and severe tissue destruction. For four decades, much effort has been done to prevent and treat this devastating condition. Savene has recently been proved to be very effective, and is the only approved treatment against anthracyline extravasation. It is thus now widely recommended. The present article represents a comprehensive review of, and historical insight to, the experimental and clinical studies of surgical and non-surgical treatments of extravasation during forty years of clinical anthracycline treatment.