001), pruritus (P=0.009), and discharge (P=0.010) effectively and meaningfully. This difference was significant

for pain relief in the second and third weeks of treatment (P=0.010 and P=0.016, respectively) and non-significant in the first week (table 3). Table 1 Distribution of baseline variables between the study and control arms at the beginning of intervention Figure 2 The rate of dermatitis healing time during 3 consecutive weeks of treatment is illustrated here Table 2 Rate of dermatitis healing during 3 consecutive weeks of treatment Table 3 Patients’ relief of complaints during 3 consecutive weeks of treatment Discussion Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Locally advanced breast cancer accounts for a considerable portion of all breast cancers, particularly in developing countries such as Iran. Nearly all patients with locally advanced breast cancer need

to receive radiotherapy as an essential part of their local treatment.1,12 Post-mastectomy radiotherapy can inevitably Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical lead to degrees of dermatitis, affecting the patients’ life quality. Radiation-induced dermatitis may be acute or chronic. Acute radiation dermatitis presents as skin pain, erythema, edema, dry or wet scaling, discharge, pruritus, ulceration, bleeding, and necrosis.1,2 These signs and symptoms usually peak at one to 3 weeks following the last radiation session Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and relieve within 3-6 weeks of the completion of radiotherapy Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in dry desquamation. Nevertheless, in cases with moist desquamation (grades 2 and 3), it is prolonged to 4-6 weeks. This acute dermatitis can cause temporary or even complete radiation interruption.1-4,13 In the present study, acute dermatitis was maximized in the second week in the study arm and in the third week in the control arm. In this study, the grades of dermatitis were determined according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.0).11 These scoring criteria are based on visual inspection. This objective measurement assesses the skin toxicity regardless of the patient factors influencing the degree of radiation dermatitis.

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Yamazaki et al.14 evaluated the effect of patient factors on radiation dermatitis in patients with breast cancer who underwent postoperative radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery. They compared skin color changes (using an objective analyzer) between treated and contralateral normal breasts and found more reddish and higher degrees of radiation why dermatitis in heavier patients. Different assessment methods have been drawn upon in other studies.15 PARP inhibition Yoshikawa et al.16 assessed the degree of radiation dermatitis by comparing serial skin change in photographs. In the current study, the primary end point was the rate of wound healing between the study and the control arm; therefore, the assessment method was not an important issue. There are various treatment-related and patient-related factors affecting the degree of radiation dermatitis.