Prevention of 5-FU-induced toxicities using pretherapeutic DPD deficiency screening: Medical and economic assessment of a multiparametric approach.

351 Background: 5-FU is the backbone of most chemotherapy regimens in GI oncology. Patients with DPD deficiency can experience early onset severe (5%) even fatal (0.3%) toxic side-effects. We decided to confirm the medical and economic interest of pre-therapeutic screening of DPD deficiency using a multiparametric approach in a multicenter prospective cohort study (Eudract n°2008-000026-39). Methods: Two parallel cohorts of patients treated with 5-FU-based chemotherapy for colorectal carcinoma were compared: Group A: initial DPD activity evaluation; Group B: no evaluation. Enrollment in either group was based on 5-FU administration guidelines at each institution. DPD deficiency screening combined genotyping and phenotyping (ODPM Tox) as well as other patient characteristics (1,2,3). The 2 groups were compared in terms of early 5-FU-induced toxicity grade, toxicity cost and DPD screening cost. The enrollment was to be immediately closed if 5-FU-induced toxic death occurred. Results: 1,130 patients were inc...