Practice CMAJ

A59-year-old woman with advanced rec-tal cancer underwent a 2-week courseof chemotherapy with capecitabine (on days 1–14) and oxaliplatin (on day 1). On day 9, she developed sharply demarcated erythema, swelling and pain of her palms and soles (Figure 1). The eruption progressed during the course of chemotherapy, and hand-foot syndrome associ-ated with capecitabine was diagnosed. The ery-thema was treated with topical urea cream, and it completely resolved 10 days after the last dose of capecitabine. Hand-foot syndrome (also known as hand-foot reaction, palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia, chemotherapy-associated acral erythema or Burgdorf reaction) is a cutaneous toxicity1–3 that is most frequently linked to cytotoxic drugs (e.g.