A Systematic Review on the Role of Topical Corticosteroids for the Management of Radiation Dermatitis
Hyder Osman Mirghani *
Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulmajeed Faisal Albalawi
Maternity and Children's Hospital, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Nawal Mohammed Alanazi
Faculty of Medicine, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Dina Nasser Abusabir
Faculty of Medicine, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Abrar Marwan Alamrani
Faculty of Medicine, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Wejdan Mohammed Alshehri
Faculty of Medicine, Tabuk University, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Omar Abdullah Alsayari
Department of Surgery, King Abdulaziz Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Hasan Mohssen Alabbadi
Department of Emergency Medicine, Dhurma General Hospital, Dhurma, Riyadh, Saudia Arabia.
Abdulrahman Mousa Aljohani
College of Medicine, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
Anas Sulaiman Aljohani
College of Medicine, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
Raghad Essam Abdullah
Medicine & Surgery, Ibnsina National College, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed Abdulrahman Alshuhayeb
College of Medicine, Shaqra University, Shaqra, Saudi Arabia.
Renad Abdulwahab Al Gaedy
Ibn Sina National College for Medical Studies, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Hassan Sulaiman Alahmadi
College of Medicine, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia.
Ali Marwan Bahabri
Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: Radiation dermatitis (RD) is a widespread complication of radiation therapy; however, there is still no agreement on the best treatment. The goal of this review is to go over how corticosteroids work throughout the treatment of radiation dermatitis.
Methodology: A comprehensive evaluation of randomized controlled trials, retrospective and prospective studies involving topical corticosteroid (TC) for the treatment of radiation dermatitis. A thorough search was carried out in Medline, Embase, the Cochrane library, Clinical trials.gov, and Google scholar. The original search took place in August and was updated on September 2021. There were no restrictions on terminology or dates. Two reviewers independently examined each of the listed papers. A search of the relevant studies of all of the mentioned publications yielded additional papers.
Results: We identified 19 studies on the role of corticosteroids for the prevention of radiation therapy. All the papers were published between 2001 and 2021. The total sample size of the included studies was 1974 with a mean sample size of 103.89. Among the included studies, four studies (21.05 %) represented head and neck cancer, 14 studies (73.68 %) were regarding breast cancer and 1 (5.26 %) hospital-based cross-sectional study represented multiple malignancies such as head and neck, breast and cervix carcinoma, respectively. Among all the participants, 1696 (85.91 %) were females while 278 (14.08 %) were males.
Conclusion: Prophylactic treatment with TC was found to minimize the rate of RD and wet desquamation. Participants who used topical steroids reported improved symptoms and a higher quality of life, whereas the use of topical steroids during radiation had few side effects. ARD can be prevented using topical corticosteroids, based on these findings. As a result, further research must be done on the most effective TC to utilize during radiation.
Keywords: Radiation dermatitis, topical corticosteroid, moist desquamation