[Management of hand-foot syndrome in patient treated with capecitabine]

Capecitabine is one of the most effective oral regimens of chemotherapy against advanced or recurrent breast cancer. In addition, capecitabine could widely be used for treatment of colon cancer. It appears that more patients will be administered capecitabine because of its QOL benefits. However, Hand-Foot Syndrome(HFS)may appear to be about 50% of the patients who take this regimen. As a result, the patient's QOL is hindered and led to a reduction of the dosage or discontinuation of the treatment depending on the grade of adverse event. This time, we evaluated the efficacy of topical emollients, creams and vitamin B6 for prevention and reduction of HFS symptoms for patients who received capecitabine. We found the efficacy of preventative measures that the occurrence of HFS grade 1 or above could be decreased and delayed. We also noticed that these preventative measures appear to be decreased the occurrence of HFS grade 2 or above, which led to a reduction of dosage or discontinuation of the treatment. For continuation and completion of the treatment and securing of patient's QOL, the supportive measures are needed to control a variety of side effects, such as HFS and others, and a team care support is indispensable.