A CANCER patient was detained for hours at the US Customs because a cancer drug he was taking had caused his fingerprints to disappear.
The drug, capecitabine, can lead to a condition known as hand-foot syndrome, in which blistering can occur on hands and feet.
The patient's oncologist from the National Cancer Centre here, senior consultant Tan Eng Huat, is now advising patients taking this drug to carry a doctor's letter when travelling.
Capecitabine, also known as xeloda, is commonly prescribed for head and neck cancers, breast, stomach as well as colorectal cancers to kill the cancer cells.
According to the cancer centre, 40 per cent of the patients may develop hand-foot syndrome, with half of them getting more serious side effects such as chronic inflammation of the palms or soles of the feet, leading to peeling, bleeding and blisters.
'This can give rise to eradication of fingerprints with time,' said Dr Tan.
The 62-year-old Indonesian patient, known only as Mr S to protect his identity, had received chemotherapy for head and neck cancer.
Subsequently, he was kept on a low dose of capecitabine to prevent the cancer's recurrence.
He developed mild hand-foot syndrome and was not aware that his fingerprints were gone.
He had been taking the medicine for more than three years and was on his way to the United States to visit relatives in December last year when he was stopped at the US Customs because they could not detect his fingerprints, said Dr Tan.
Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.
