Radiodermatitis: severity, predictive factors and discontinuation of radiotherapy in patients with anal and rectal cancer.
Larissa Jucá Dantas Bastos, Regina Serrão Lanzillotti, Marcos Antônio Gomes Brandão and 2 others
PMID 35723900WHAT IT FOUND
99.1% of patients with anal or rectal cancer developed radiodermatitis during radiotherapy, and 34.8% had severe grades.
Nurses should watch women, age 65 and older, anal canal tumors, cobalt devices and IMRT for skin injury and interruption.
Key findings
01Radiodermatitis was almost universal, and severe Grade 3 or 4 reactions occurred in 34.8% of patients.
02Female sex, age 65 and older, anal canal tumor site, cobalt device and IMRT/VMAT technique were each associated with more severe radiodermatitis.
03Treatment interruption due to radiodermatitis occurred in 15 patients (13.4%), with interrupted days ranging from 3 to 46 and a mean of 16.74 days.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
It used one year of records from one cancer centre, so results may not apply to other services. Medical records were incomplete, and some variables had fewer patients than 112, such as comorbidity (108), smoking and alcohol (106), and combined chemotherapy (109). No sample size calculation was done. It was retrospective and cross-sectional, so it can show associations but cannot prove that any factor caused severe radiodermatitis. Diarrhea grading may have been underreported.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the nursing consultation prevented severe radiodermatitis or treatment interruption. The study had no comparison group and did not test the consultation, so it cannot show that the care worked.