Abstract
BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate skin condition, quality of life, and psychological impact of breast cancer patients after radiation therapy. We designed and administered a questionnaire to breast cancer survivors for better understanding the skin sequelae after radiation therapy.MethodsThis study performed an anonymous online survey. Invitation join was posted in Facebook groups for Breast Cancer. Content of the questionnaire included basic information and a three-point scale on the degree of skin dryness, sweating, hotness sensation, itchy sensation, presence of pigment deposition, history of severe skin disorder, psychological impact, and quality of life after radiotherapy. Categorical variables were summarized using counts and percentages, and then Mantel–Haenszel chi-square tests, multiple correspondence analysis, Wald chi-square statistics, and logistic regression analyses were performed; P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsIn total, 421 breast cancer survivors completed the questionnaire. Among them, 331 (78.62%) reported rarely sweating; 340 (80.76%) reported dry skin; 184 (43.71%) reported itchy skin in addition to dry skin; 336 (79.81%) had severe or mild skin color deposition; and 76 (18.05%) had eczema or contact dermatitis. Dry skin problems were caused by absent sweating and skin dryness in the irradiated skin area, post-RT severe skin disorders, and skin color deposition. Compared with patients sweating normally in the radiation field, patients with absent sweating and hotness sensation in the radiation field had a higher risk of depression.ConclusionsThis study showed that breast cancer patients after whole breast radiotherapy may experience skin dryness, hypersensitivity and hyper pigmentation in the irradiated skin area. These “radiation-irritated skin” lesions may induce depressive psychological status and impact the quality of life in breast cancer patients after whole breast radiotherapy.
Highlights
According to global statistics, breast cancer is the most common female cancer
Our data indicate that breast cancer patients undergoing whole breast radiotherapy may develop permanent less or no sweating of the irradiated skin area with the skin persistently dried, sensitive, and irritated
Acute radiation dermatitis, defined as a skin reaction that appears within 90 days of initiation of radiation exposure
Summary
Breast cancer is the most common female cancer. Breast cancer therapy is a multi-disciplinary treatment with overall 5-year survival rate can be as high as 98 and 92% for stage I and stage II patients respectively [2]. Acute skin reaction is one of the most common adverse effects of radiation therapy. The severity of acute radiation dermatitis ranges from mild erythema to wet desquamation and even ulceration. Acute inflammation of the skin will gradually recover one to two weeks after radiotherapy and start reepithelialization [8,9,10,11]. This study aimed to investigate skin condition, quality of life, and psychological impact of breast cancer patients after radiation therapy. We designed and administered a questionnaire to breast cancer survivors for better understanding the skin sequelae after radiation therapy
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