Chemotherapy-Induced Hand-Foot Syndrome: Clinical and Epidemiological Approach to Cancer Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Hand-foot syndrome (HFS) or palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia is a toxic skin reaction resulting from antineoplastic chemotherapy, which occurs frequently and is an important clinical problem for individuals with malignant neoplasm. The development of HFS may lead to treatment discontinuation and, often, a reduction of the chemotherapy dose. Objective: To analyze the clinical and epidemiological data of patients with HFS treated with chemotherapy. Method: A descriptive and retrospective study, with data collected from January 2013 to January 2014 in medical charts using the register of antineoplastic toxicities and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status scale. Results: It were analyzed 250 charts. Of these, 70 underwent chemotherapy treatment, and 15 (21.4%) presented HFS, with grade 1 toxicity after 2 cycles of capecitabine (13.3%); grade 2 after two, four and up to 12 treatment cycles (40%); grade 3, after five and 11 cycles of capecitabine (20%) and with grade 4, one patient presented such toxicity after two cycles of capecitabine and another patient presented HFS after two cycles of liposomal doxorubicin (13.3%). Conclusion: Chemotherapy treatment causes high risk of presenting HFS. However, this syndrome showed low incidence in cancer patients receiving treatment with capecitabine, doxorubicin and cytarabine.