Assessing the Validity of Clinician Advice That Patients Avoid Use of Topical Agents Before Daily Radiotherapy Treatments.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Radiation dermatitis is common and often treated with topical therapy. Patients are typically advised to avoid topical agents for several hours before daily radiotherapy (RT) out of concern that topical agents might increase the radiation dose to the skin. With modern RT's improved skin-sparing properties, this recommendation may be irrelevant.

Objective

To assess whether applying either metallic or nonmetallic topical agents before radiation treatment alters the skin dose.

Design, setting, and participants

A 24-question online survey of patients and clinicians was conducted from January 15, 2015, to March 15, 2017, to determine current practices regarding topical therapy use. In preclinical studies, dosimetric effect of the topical agents was evaluated by

SUBMITTER: Baumann BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6440719 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature