Man with no fingerprints detained at US border.

(May 27, 2009 - DTN) - Immigration officials in the U.S. detained a man from Singapore after cancer medication caused his fingerprints to disappear, an oncologist says.

Cancer patients who are being treated with the commonly used drug, capecitabine, should carry a doctor's letter highlighting the side-effect when travelling to the U.S., oncologist Dr. Eng-Huat Tan of the National Cancer Centre said in a letter published Wednesday in the journal Annals of Oncology.

Foreign visitors to the U.S. are asked to provide fingerprints at the airport, and the images are matched with lists of valid visa holders and suspected criminals.

Capecitabine is used to treat cancers in the head and neck, breast, stomach and colorectum. One of its side-effects can be hand-foot syndrome: chronic inflammation of the palms or soles of the feet, ulcers or blisters that lead to temporary loss of fingerprints.

The patient, a 62-year-old man, had head and neck cancer that had spread but was responding to chemotherapy. He was prescribed capecitabine to prevent the cancer from recurring.

"In December 2008, after more than three years of capecitabine, he went to the United States to visit his relatives," Tan wrote in the journal.

"He was detained at the airport customs for four hours because the immigration officers could not detect his fingerprints. He was allowed to enter after the custom officers were satisfied that he was not a security threat."

The drug's packaging describes chronic inflammation of the palms and soles but not loss of fingerprints, Tan said.

"Most patients will complain they're having difficulty holding things or sensing things," said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, who was not linked to the case.

"I've never had a patient running into a problem with police authorities, but this is not an exaggeration. It could actually happen."

The patient, identified only as Mr. S, was not aware he had lost his fingerprints, Tan said, noting his daily activities and function were not affected.

Tan said up to 40 per cent of patients develop the syndrome, and of these, a small percentage lose their fingerprints.

Fingerprints return about a month after patients stop taking the drug and ice their hands.

Mr. S was the only patient of Tan's to encounter this problem, but cancer blogs describe other cases.

Criminals have been known to erase their fingerprints with sandpaper or acid. Both Bradley and Tan said it's unlikely someone would take capecitabine for that purpose, given its side-effects such as a weakened immune system and increased cancer risk.

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