Prospective evaluation of acute radiation – induced skin reactions in patients after head and neck radiotherapy

Abstract

Acute Radiation- induced Skin reaction (ARISR) is a common side effect in the majority of patients receiving radiotherapy. ARISR is often characterized by swelling, redness, pigmentation, dry and moist desquamation, edema, ulceration, bleeding and necrosis of the Skin. This study was carried out to evaluate prevalence and severity of ARISR in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy and determining skin dose–response relationship. From December 2014 to September 2015, we evaluated 88 patients with head and neck cancer. The acute skin toxicity was scored based on RTOG toxicity criteria. Analysis of data using statistical software SPSS (version20) and ANOVA or chi- square test was done, with P  0.05 considered as significant. 98.86% of patients experienced dermatitis, but were mild in most cases.There was no significant differences in age, sex, stage, and field size between patients with dermatitis.