Project Funding Details

Purpose/Specific Aims: With the rise of oral therapies and outpatient infusion centers, exposure to common chemotherapeutics and their hazardous metabolites through patients’ body fluids such as urine is an increasing caregiver safety concern. Recommendations to reduce drug exposure risks often require patients to abstain from activities such as physical intimacy and breastfeeding for varying durations, based on tradition not evidence. The long-term goal of this project is to improve patients’ and caregivers’ ability to self-manage exposure risks by developing a low-cost device for home use that can detect antineoplastic agents and their hazardous metabolites in body fluids such as urine, semen and vaginal fluid, and breastmilk. Due to their toxicity, widespread use, and chemical properties that lend themselves to simple detection methods, we will begin by detecting Doxorubicin and Methotrexate. Specific aims: 1) Fabricate device prototypes, similar in design to over-the-counter pregnancy tests, for at-home detection of chemotherapeutics Doxorubicin and Methotrexate, and their toxic metabolites, in body fluids. 2) Evaluate sensitivity of device prototypes to detect these drugs and their toxic metabolites in water and simulated urine, in a controlled lab setting. 3) Exploratory aim: Gather and descriptively-categorize expert (oncology nurse, oncology prescriber, primary care provider, and cancer patient advocate) perspectives on: a. human factors relevant to the design of the next generation of device prototypes, and b. important considerations for next steps in the design and testing of working prototypes