Patient held after drug removes his fingerprints

Source: Agencies | May 28, 2009, Thursday |

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A SINGAPORE cancer patient was held for four hours by immigration officials in the United States when they could not detect his fingerprints - which had apparently disappeared because of a drug he was taking.

The incident, highlighted in the Annals of Oncology, was reported by the patient's doctor, Tan Eng Huat, who advised cancer patients taking this drug to carry a doctor's letter when traveling to the US.

The drug, capecitabine, is commonly used to treat cancers in the head and neck, breast, stomach and colorectum.

One side-effect is chronic inflammation of the palms or soles of the feet and the skin can peel, bleed and develop ulcers or blisters - or what is known as hand-foot syndrome.

"This can give rise to eradication of fingerprints with time," said Tan, a senior consultant at Singapore's National Cancer Centre.

The patient, a 62-year-old man, had flown to the US in December 2008.

"He was allowed to enter after the custom officers were satisfied that he was not a security threat," Tan wrote.

World

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Patient held after drug removes his fingerprints

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