Management of acute radiotherapy induced skin reactions: a literature review.

Up to 60% of patients with cancer will receive radiotherapy treatment at some stage during their illness. One of the main side effects of this treatment is an acute skin reaction, which may range in severity from a mild erythema to moist sloughing off of the epidermis. The management of these skin reactions varies between cancer centres and is often based on personal preference and historical practices rather than clinical evidence. This paper presents a literature review that was conducted to discover the most commonly recommended treatments and the research evidence to support them. The review was conducted in two parts and looked at both clinical papers and research studies. A multitude of treatments were recommended in the clinical papers, but few were supported by high quality research. As a result of combining the evidence from both sources, preliminary guidelines for acute skin reaction management can be produced, but these should be implemented in clinical practice and their clinical performance evaluated. There is a need for further research to review treatments that have produced promising results in the reviewed research studies and to evaluate other commonly recommended topical treatments.