What is your strategy for managing radiation dermatitis in breast cancer in the prophylactic, erythema/dry desquamation, and moist desquamation stages?

Good question. Everyone seems to have a favorite home remedy with very little good supporting data. I am unaware of any good prophylaxis rx. The best thing is good treatment planning to minimize inhomogeneity. There are phase III data demonstrating the efficacy of soap and water cleansing for rx of ...

Radiation dermatitis is influenced by several factors which makes prophylaxis and management unique to the patient.

I consider the following when deciding on prophylaxis:

Patient factors: Breast size (A-B cup, vs C-DD or larger etc), Obesity-Inframmamary folds and axillary folds, supraclav/neck fol...

- We routinely give all patients calendula lotion for which there is contradictory prospective data but below is a trial supporting its reduction of acute dermatitis: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15084618

- We give steroids as needed (hydrocortisone or mometasone) for increasing erythema and p...

This is still a very important issue for our patients. At my institution we've had good success using Mepitel Film for prophylaxis of radiation dermatitis in breast patients. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24486117

We use it standardly for our high risk breast patients with very good results. Th...