Cutaneous prophylaxis for adjuvant hypofractionated radiotherapy in breast cancer. Pilot study

Background: Hypofractionated schedules of radiotherapy in breast cancer offered similar outcomes and toxicities than conventional treatment.Skin is the first damage site, with radiodermatitis in mainly cases, however, there is not a clear indication for cutaneous prophylaxis.Objective: To determine the benefit of a cutaneous prophylactic intervention for hypofractionated breast cancer radiotherapy.Method: A prospective, experimental, double-blind, pilot, randomized, controlled study.We included patients with breast cancer diagnosis treated with conservative surgery and hypofractionated radiotherapy with a dose of 40 Gy in 15 sessions; they were randomly assigned to prophylaxis with hyaluronic acid or aloe vera; historic control group without prophylaxis were used.A χ 2 test was performed to compare results between groups.Results: Twenty-nine patients were included, 12 treated with hyaluronic acid, 8 with aloe vera and 9 without prophylactic management.There is a significant improvement in radiodermatitis grade during and until eight weeks after radiotherapy.Without a difference between prophylactic products.Conclusions: Cutaneous prophylactic in patients treated with hypofractionated radiotherapy for breast cancer improve the severity of radiodermatitis without difference in the prophylactic product.