[Adverse events of immune checkpoint inhibitors].

After immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy was approved for renal cell carcinoma last year, this new immune therapy has spread to urology. Further approvals (atezolizumab, nivolumab, pembrolizumab) are expected in 2017 for metastatic urothelial carcinoma that has progressed following treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy. With expanding use of immune checkpoint inhibitors, experience in diagnosing and managing immune-mediated adverse events increases. Although of low incidence, grade 3/4 toxicities play a central role. Organs most common for immune-mediated adverse events are skin, liver (hepatitis), kidneys (nephritis), gastrointestinal tract (diarrhea and colitis), lungs (pneumonitis), and endocrine organs (hyper-, hypothyroidism and hypophysitis). Diagnostic workup includes routine laboratory tests (including liver function tests) and may be supplemented with hormone values. In cases of pneumonitis or hypophysitis, imaging (high-resolution CT, MRI) can confirm diagnoses. Immune-mediated toxicities are treated with therapy interruption and administration of corticosteroids (and in individual cases additional immunosuppression). Dose modification is not intended!