Humaira Maryum, Sadaf Ahmed, Humaira Talat, Raja Samir Khan, Mehnaz Gitay, Asim Hameed.
Dermatitis; Acute Versus Chronic Radio Dermatitis with Ionizing Radiation: a Comparative study of Their Frequency of Presentation.
Professional Med J Jan ;25(6):842-6.

Objectives: To assess the frequency of acute and chronic radio dermatitis in patients treated for various malignancies, via ionizing radiation. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: This multi-center, Outpatient Department of Dermatology Al-Tibri Medical College & Hospital Isra University Karachi campus, Departments of Dermatology and Oncology Dow University Hospital and Civil Hospital Karachi. Period: June 2015 till December 2016. Methods: Patients belonging to both genders and all age groups, fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Selected patients underwent a detailed history and physical examination. Clinical diagnosis of radiation-induced dermatitis was made and relevant investigations were performed where needed. All findings were recorded, tabulated and analyzed. Results: The sample consisted of a 150 patients (35.3% male and 64.6% female). Minimum age was 11 years and maximum age was 82 years. Mean age was 46.4 with a SD of 14.5. All patients had received external beam radiation. Radiodermatitis was identified in 65 patients out of which acute radiodermatitis was encountered in 32.66% (of which 63.26% were male and 36.73% were female) while chronic radiodermatitis was found in 10.66% (of which 18.75% were male and 81.25% were female). Pigmentation, epilation and erythema were the most common manifestations while fibrosis and necrosis were least encountered manifestations. Conclusion: A number of patients develop acute or chronic radiodermatitis with or without associated variable cutaneous manifestations. Theseside effects of ionizing radiation significantly affect patient?s quality of life, also disturbs the treatment schedule. In the present study acute radiodermatitis was found to be more prevalent than chronic radiodermatitis. However, further research is necessary in order to effectively prevent, manage and reduce such complications.

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