A TERMINAL cancer patient died from respiratory failure after taking part in a drugs trial and undergoing radiotherapy to alleviate his symptoms, an inquest heard.
Former steelworker John Shimwell, aged 63, died in the Royal Hallamshire Hospital two months after embarking on drug therapy to reduce the pain caused by prostate cancer which had spread to his bones.
He was admitted as an emergency patient to Wes
ton Park last June and initially treated for a suspected lung infection and blood clots.
But his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to intensive care at the Hallamshire where he died from Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome, caused by damage to his lungs.
A Sheffield inquest heard Mr Shimwell, of Moss Rise Place, Eckington, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004 and successfully treated until the illness returned in January 2007.
Dr Peter Kirkbride, consultant oncologist at Weston Park Hospital, said in March 2007 Mr Shimwell was given a single dose of radiotherapy to his upper body to relieve the pain caused by the cancer in his bones.
Dr Kirkbride said in his 20-year career he had never known such a low dose of radiation to damage a patients' lungs.
He said when it failed to have an effect Mr Shimwell was given literature to read about a drug trial taking place at the hospital, and signed up.
Mr Shimwell was injected with the drug Denosumab in April and again in May. At his second appointment he told Dr Kirkbride he had not noticed any improvement but was tired and had lost his appetite.
"After the second treatment there was a significant change," said Dr Kirkbride. "He had developed breathlessness and that's when he was admitted."
He added: "In my opinion Mr Shimwell was given two treatments which are safe in their own right but, when combined, might have had an effect."
Dr Willard Dere from drugs company Amgen said of the 6,000 cancer patients who had taken part in trials of Denosumab six or seven had developed respiratory failure - but it had been attributed to other causes.
He said he was not aware of any other patients having radiotherapy as well as the drug.
He said there were no plans to halt the trials but a committee of experts was monitoring the situation.
Dr Kim Survano, histopathologist from the Northern General Hospital, said he didn't think the radiotherapy alone would have caused Mr Shimwell's lung damage.
He added that in 15 years of treating lung cancer patients with radiotherapy he had never seen a patient develop Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome.
Deputy coroner Judith Naylor recorded a narrative verdict.
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