Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

« Back to Farmacia Journal 4/2023

AWARENESS AND RECOMMENDATION RELATED TO DPYD TESTING AMONG MEDICAL ONCOLOGISTS IN ROMANIA: A SURVEY STUDY

ANDRADA LARISA DEAC 1*, DANIEL SUR 2, ALECSANDRA GORZO 2, CRISTIAN-VIRGIL LUNGULESCU 3, CLAUDIA-CRISTINA BURZ 4, LOREDANA BĂLĂCESCU 2, ELENA ADRIANA DUMITRESCU 5, DANA LUCIA STĂNCULEANU 5, ANCA-DANA BUZOIANU 1

1Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, “Iuliu Hațieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2 “Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuţă" Institute of Oncology, 400125, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
3 Department of Oncology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349, Craiova, Romania
4 Department of Immunology and Allergology, Faculty of Medicine, “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
5 Department of Oncology, "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474, Bucharest, Romania

Download Full Article PDF

Fluoropyrimidines are used in many types of cancers and remain one of the most prescribed chemotherapy agents despite the development of newer anti-cancer treatments. Fluoropyrimidines-related mechanism of toxicity is a well-known subject, and DPYD mutation testing is a clinical validation method to identify patients at risk or who already have severe toxicities. In this study, the aim was to evaluate the attitudes and experiences of Romanian medical oncologists regarding DPYD testing. An online survey was sent to members of the Romanian Society of Medical Oncology. 93 oncologists responded to the survey with almost 25% of the responders using fluoropyrimidines on a daily basis, mostly in gastrointestinal cancers. Adverse events (AE) were reported as average by 59% of the oncologists, with grade 2 being the most common AE in clinical practice (90%). However, despite the potential benefits of DPYD testing, 87% of the oncologists surveyed reported that they rarely or never recommended DPYD testing. The main reason for this was the lack of reimbursement from the authorities. This highlights the need for Romanian medical oncologists to consider DPYD testing in their daily clinical care, despite the lack of reimbursement and the absence of a generalized endorsement from international professional oncology societies.