Skin Care Cream Aids Healing in Selected Patients

For Release: November 3, 1999

Skin Care Cream Aids Healing in Selected Patients
Treated With Radiation for Breast Cancer

A skin care cream from France, now available in the United States, can help selected patients, which include large-breasted or non-smoking women, achieve faster healing of treatment-induced skin reactions following radiation therapy for breast cancer, according to a national study.

The results of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) study were presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX on November 3.

From February to May 1998, 185 patients were studied to see if using Biafine, a skin care product, prevented or minimized skin reactions in women receiving breast radiation better than other methods. Such skin reactions include redness and irritation.

The patients were treated in one of two ways: with Biafine or Best Supportive Care. No treatment was an option as best supportive care. Best Supportive Care is a collective term for an institution's treatment of choice. The two most popular choices were Aloe Vera or AquaphorÆ.

The assigned product was applied three times a day, but not within four hours of daily radiation therapy (RT) treatment. The treatment lasted from their first RT session and continued two weeks beyond their last session.

Skin dermatitis was scored weekly using the RTOG and Oncology Nursing Society skin toxicity scales. Patients were also given a weekly satisfaction and quality of life questionnaire.

Lead author, Jackie Fisher, RN, BSN, of the Oakwood Hospital and Medical Center in Dearborn, MI said that treating patients with Biafine did not prove to be any better or worse overall in minimizing or preventing skin reactions. It was, however, helpful in healing skin reactions post-radiation in the large breasted and non-smoking women population.

The RTOG is a federally funded cancer clinical trials cooperative group, with headquarters in Philadelphia, PA, which carries out multi-disciplinary research in North America. It is a major clinical research component of the American College of Radiology. For further information about RTOG and clinical trials, please call Timothy McKeough at 215-574-3205.

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