Patients

Our objective is to help you and your doctor choose the most effective chemotherapy drug for you, increase efficacy of the chemotherapeutic agent, and to reduce the toxicity and adverse side effects you may experience during your chemotherapy.

Is your oncologist considering the chemotherapy drug 5-Fluorouracil for you?

5-Fluorouracil, often referred to as 5-FU, is one of the most commonly prescribed chemotherapy drugs with approximately 2 million patients receiving it each year. It is used to treat a wide variety of cancers, including colorectal, gastric, breast, head and neck, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, among others. Yet, about 13-16% of the patients that receive 5-FU experience severe grade 3-4 side effects including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, neutropenia, mucositis, neuropathy, dermatitis, hand-foot syndrome, cardiac toxicity, and, in rare cases, death.

An enzyme called dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) is a key factor in the breakdown of 5-FU, so patients with decreased (or deficient) DPD activity cannot effectively metabolize the drug and may experience some of the severe side effects described above. However, a DPD enzyme deficiency test can be performed before you receive 5-FU to determine if you have normal or deficient DPD activity. This test can determine how well your DPD enzyme metabolizes 5-FU and will help to determine if you are at a greater risk of severe side effects due to 5-FU treatment.

Who Should Be Tested?

The DPD enzyme assay should be considered for any person who is taking 5-FU based drugs (ie Adrucil, Efudex, Fluoroplex, Xeloda, and Carac) with symptoms of toxicity or anyone being considered for 5-FU based chemotherapy.

Why Order the DPD Enzyme Deficiency Test?

The DPD enzyme deficiency test can be performed to test whether your DPD enzyme activity is normal or deficient and give us a better understanding of how well your DPD enzyme will metabolize 5-FU, helping us to better predict if you are at risk for severe 5-FU toxicity.

The Testing Process

Speak with your physician about the DPD enzyme deficiency test and he or she can contact our laboratory to order the test for you. The test requires only a single blood draw of 15-20 mls (approximately 3-4 teaspoons) and results will be returned to your physician within 3 business days.

Cost of Assay and Payment Options

The DPD enzyme assay costs $450.00 and payment options include health insurance reimbursement (for Alabama residents), or patient payment.
For Alabama residents with insurance coverage by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, ITT Labs is currently petitioning Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama to cover the DPD enzyme assay, and we will update the website as soon as we have more information regarding insurance reimbursement for the DPD enzyme deficiency test.