DPD deficiency Patient Information Sheet

Colleagues in the Medical Oncology Workstream of the Yorkshire Cancer Research Bowel Cancer Improvement Programme have developed a patient information sheet about DPD deficiency and DPYD gene testing.

DPD deficiency testing is routinely offered by Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust to all cancer patients ahead of carrying out chemotherapy treatment. The patient information sheet, co-produced by members of the Bowel Cancer Intelligence Programme Patient-Public Group, was produced after it was found that there is a lack of patient-friendly information about DPD testing currently available.

Patients with a DPD deficiency are more likely to get severe, sometimes life threatening, side effects from certain chemotherapy drugs. Individuals who are most at risk of DPD deficiency can be identified by taking a blood sample to test for mutations (changes) in the DPYD gene. This test means that the safety of treatment can be improved if it is known who has a DPD deficiency before starting chemotherapy treatment.

The information sheet, designed for Oncologist’s to give to cancer patients ahead of them being treated with a fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy drug, explains what DPD is, why it is important to find out if you have DPD deficiency and what happens if you are found to have a deficiency.

A copy of the Patient Information Sheets can be downloaded below along with a separate document which gives patients more information in the event that they are found to have a DPD deficiency. For more information or to request copies of the documents for use in your organisation please contact Project Manager Hannah Rossington (H.L.Rossington@leeds.ac.uk)

A downloadable version of the DPD testing patient information sheet can be accessed here.
A downloadable patient information sheet for patients who have been told they are DPD deficient.