Compliance Of Cancer Patients Under Oral Chemotherapy

With the increasing availability and importance of oral anticancer drugs such as capecitabine, etoposide, and tyrosine kinase inhibitors, patients increasingly take over the responsibility for the correct administration of their prescribed therapy. Although cancer patients might be more adherent than other patient groups due to a high level of motivation, the slightest non-compliance may endanger the therapeutic goals. Only few studies have been published investigating the level of compliance of cancer patients. We have conducted a prospective, multi-centre interventional study in order to evaluate the effect of an intensified pharmaceutical care provision on the compliance of cancer patients treated with capecitabine, a prodrug of fluorouracil. Breast and colorectal cancer patients who had never before received an orally administrable chemotherapy were included. Patients of the intervention group received an intensified pharmaceutical care programme delivered through clinical pharmacists while patients of the control group received standard care.