Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Over compliance with capecitabine oral chemotherapy

  • Case Report
  • Published:
International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Case

A case study of a patient who over complied with adjuvant capecitabine monotherapy on several occasions is described. The patient suffered worsening side effects, predominantly palmar plantar erythrodysesthesia which resulted in dose reduction and delay. The patient had disregarded advice to stop taking the capecitabine as he perceived it as “important to fight his cancer”. The patient refused review with a psychologist.

Conclusion

There is a lack of evidence regarding the issue of over compliance. Pharmacists should consider discussing patient’s attitudes towards taking their medication and its importance to them in treating their cancer. Tools that are used to assess non-compliance could be utilised to identify patients who over comply. Further research is required to gain further understanding of the psychological factors behind patient’s decisions to over comply with treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Simchowitz B, Shiman L, Spencer J, Brouillard D, Gross A, Connor M, et al. Perceptions and experiences of patients receiving oral chemotherapy. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2010;14(4):447–53.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu G, Franssen E, Fitch MI, Warner E. Patient preferences for oral versus intravenous palliative chemotherapy. J Clin Oncol. 1997;15:110–5.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Osterberg L, Blaschke T. Adherence to medication. N Engl J Med. 2005;353:487–97.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Winkeljohn D. Adherence to oral cancer therapies: nursing interventions. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2010;14(4):461–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Partridge AH, Wang PS, Winer PS, Avorn J, Weingart SN. Nonadherence to adjuvant tamoxifen therapy in women with primary breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2003;21:602–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Timmers L, Boons C, Mangnus D, Moes J, Swart E, Boven E, et al. The use of erlotinib in daily practice: a study on adherence and patients’ experiences. BMC Cancer. 2011;11:284.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Nilsson J, Andersson K, Bergkvist A, Björkman I, Brismar A, Moen J. Refill adherence to repeat prescriptions of cancer drugs to ambulatory patients. Eur J Cancer Care. 2006;15(3):235–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Marin D, Bazeos A, Mahon F, Eliasson L, Milojkovic D, Bua M, et al. Adherence is the critical factor for achieving molecular responses in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia who achieve complete cytogenetic responses on imatinib. J Clin Oncol. 2010;28(14):2381–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Oncology Nursing Society. adherence to oral therapies for cancer: helping your patient stay on course toolkit. http://www.ons.org/ClinicalResources/OralTherapies/Toolkit. Accessed 5th December 2013.

  10. Timmers L, Swart E, Boons C, Mangnus D, van de Ven PM, Godefridus P, et al. The use of capecitabine in daily practice: a study on adherence and patients’ experiences. Patient Prefer Adher. 2012;6:741–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

None.

Conflicts of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Steve Williamson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Allen, J., Williamson, S. Over compliance with capecitabine oral chemotherapy. Int J Clin Pharm 36, 271–273 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-9921-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-9921-1

Keywords

Navigation