Dranitsaris and Lacouture developed a score for predicting the risk of a skin rash in a breast cancer patient treated with lapatinib and capecitabine. The authors are from Augmentium Pharma Consulting and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Patient selection: breast cancer treated with lapatinib and capecitabine
Outcome: skin rash Grade 2 or greater
Parameters:
(1) brain metastases at baseline
(2) total planned dose of capecitabine in grams
(3) concomitant use of a 5HT3 antiemetic (granisetron, ondansetron, palonesetron, tropisetron)
Parameter
Finding
Points
brain metastases
No
0
Yes
50
total planned dose of capecitabine
<grams>
concomitant therapy with 5HT3 antiemetic
no
0
yes
100
total score =
= SUM(points for all 3 parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 150 or more
• The higher the score the greater the risk for a skin rash.
• A score > 40 was considered “high risk” (risk > 1.6%).
