Overview
Heart-hand syndrome (HHS), also known as hand-foot syndrome (HFS), is a common skin toxicity associated with chemotherapy agents 1. There is no uniform clinical treatment for HFS 1.Diagnosis
HFS is characterized by systemic skin toxicity 1.
Grading of HFS severity is utilized 1.Management
Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) has been investigated for the prevention of HFS 1.
A meta-analysis of 14 studies involving 1570 patients found no significant difference in the prevention of any grade HFS (OR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.67-1.05) or grade ≥ 2 HFS (OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.70-1.09) between pyridoxine and control groups 1.
Subgroup analysis of pyridoxine dose also showed no significant difference in preventing grade ≥ 2 HFS (OR = 0.79, 95% CI 0.62-0.99) 1.
The preventive use of pyridoxine might have a tendency to reduce the incidence of HFS 1.Key Recommendations
Adequate evidence to support the use of pyridoxine for preventing HFS and reducing the incidence of grade ≥ 2 HFS was not found 1. (Evidence: Moderate)
The preventive use of pyridoxine may show a tendency to reduce HFS incidence 1. (Evidence: Weak)References
1 Lian S, Zhang X, Zhang Y, Zhao Q. Pyridoxine for prevention of hand-foot syndrome caused by chemotherapy agents: a meta-analysis. Clinical and experimental dermatology 2021. link