BACKGROUND:Topical 5% 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is known to cause toxicity, such as erythema, pain, and crusting/erosions. OBJECTIVES: We sought to develop a scale to measure this toxicity and test the scale for reliability. METHODS: A scale was developed involving four parameters: erythema severity, percentage of face involved in erythema, crusting/erosions severity, and percentage of face involved in crusting/erosions. Thirteen raters graded 99 sets of photographs from the Veterans Affairs Keratinocyte Carcinoma Chemoprevention (VAKCC) Trial using these parameters. RESULTS: Intraclass correlation overall for 13 raters was 0.82 (95% CI 0.77-0.86). There was no statistically significant trend in reliability by level of training in dermatology. CONCLUSIONS: This scale is a reliable method of evaluating the severity of toxicity from topical 5-fluorouracil and can be used by dermatologists and nondermatologists alike.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Topical 5% 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is known to cause toxicity, such as erythema, pain, and crusting/erosions. OBJECTIVES: We sought to develop a scale to measure this toxicity and test the scale for reliability. METHODS: A scale was developed involving four parameters: erythema severity, percentage of face involved in erythema, crusting/erosions severity, and percentage of face involved in crusting/erosions. Thirteen raters graded 99 sets of photographs from the Veterans Affairs Keratinocyte Carcinoma Chemoprevention (VAKCC) Trial using these parameters. RESULTS: Intraclass correlation overall for 13 raters was 0.82 (95% CI 0.77-0.86). There was no statistically significant trend in reliability by level of training in dermatology. CONCLUSIONS: This scale is a reliable method of evaluating the severity of toxicity from topical 5-fluorouracil and can be used by dermatologists and nondermatologists alike.
Authors: Martin A Weinstock; Soe Soe Thwin; Julia A Siegel; Kimberly Marcolivio; Alexander D Means; Nicholas F Leader; Fiona M Shaw; Daniel Hogan; David Eilers; Susan M Swetter; Suephy C Chen; Sharon E Jacob; Erin M Warshaw; George P Stricklin; Robert P Dellavalle; Navjeet Sidhu-Malik; Nellie Konnikov; Victoria P Werth; Jonette E Keri; Leslie Robinson-Bostom; Robert J Ringer; Robert A Lew; Ryan Ferguson; John J DiGiovanna; Grant D Huang Journal: JAMA Dermatol Date: 2018-02-01 Impact factor: 10.282