(WASHINGTONPOST) — As if having stage IV breast cancer isn't enough to deal with, a 65-year-old woman in Mexico City was turned away at a bank after chemotherapy erased her fingerprints.
The "hand-foot syndrome" that caused the problem is an occasional but little-known side-effect of some chemotherapy medications. The drugs can cause redness, swelling, inflammation, peeling, ulcers and pain on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. According to a short article that accompanied photos in the April 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the woman was being treated with capecitabine and bevacizumab.
The woman's oncologist, Yanin Chavarri-Guerra, said she submitted the photos and information to remind other health care providers of the social impacts of some types of medical care.
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