An anti-cancer treatment, capecitabine, can cause the disappearance of fingerprints in some patients.
On a crime scene, they are one of the first clues investigators look for: fingerprints. Unique to everyone, these fine curves drawn on the pads of the fingers are formed long before our birth, and will never change during life. But these immutable marks can nevertheless disappear.
An anti-cancer treatment called capecitabine can indeed cause the loss of fingerprints, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Oncology.
This oral chemotherapy drug is prescribed for the home treatment of cancer of the colon, stomach or breast. Capecitabine is known to cause skin disorders in patients (redness, plaques, dryness or even acne). It is also responsible for the occurrence of hand-foot syndrome in 50 to 60% of patients, while this inflammation of the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet is observed in 19 to 34% of patients treated with other drugs. A common side effect that could lead to the loss of fingerprints, an anecdotal phenomenon reported in some patients.
To find out, researchers from the Erasmus Institute of Cancerology MC (Netherlands) took the fingerprints of 112 patients before the start of treatment and 6 to 10 weeks after the end of therapy. Photos of the volunteers’ hands were also taken to detect a skin disorder.
70% of affected patients
The analysis of the various photographs was entrusted to 3 typist-technicians and an inspector. They then discovered that 9 of the 66 patients treated with capecitabine lost their fingerprints, and only 3 found them at the end of the treatments. On the other hand, of the 46 patients treated with another chemotherapy, only 1 patient lost these fingerprints.
In addition, more than 70% of patients treated with capecitabine developed hand-foot syndrome compared to less than half of the other patients. In view of these proportions, the authors believe that there is no link between severe loss of fingerprints and hand-foot syndrome.
Although they have not succeeded in discovering the cause of this phenomenon, the researchers stress that it can be a source of many difficulties in the daily life of patients, in particular problems of identification at borders. “In addition, fingerprints are increasingly used for our personal electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops. Although the loss of fingerprints has no clinical impact, physicians should be aware of this consequence, ”they conclude.
“Marketed in France since 2005, this product has been, in very rare cases, associated with the occurrence of severe skin reactions which require immediate cessation of treatment”, explained in December 2013, the National Agency for Drug Safety. Patients who will receive these treatments must also be informed in order to immediately consult a doctor in the event of any symptom suggestive of such reactions, ”then recommended the ANSM.
.
