DERMATITIS

Objectives: To assess the frequency of acute and chronic radio dermatitis inpatients treated for various malignancies, via ionizing radiation. Study Design: Cross-sectionalstudy. Setting: This multi-center, Outpatient Department of Dermatology Al-Tibri Medical College& Hospital Isra University Karachi campus, Departments of Dermatology and Oncology DowUniversity 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 wereincluded in the study. Selected patients underwent a detailed history and physical examination.Clinical diagnosis of radiation-induced dermatitis was made and relevant investigations wereperformed where needed. All findings were recorded, tabulated and analyzed. Results: Thesample consisted of a 150 patients (35.3% male and 64.6% female). Minimum age was 11years and maximum age was 82 years. Mean age was 46.4 with a SD of 14.5. All patients hadreceived external beam radiation. Radiodermatitis was identified in 65 patients out of whichacute 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 maleand 81.25% were female). Pigmentation, epilation and erythema were the most commonmanifestations while fibrosis and necrosis were least encountered manifestations. Conclusion:A number of patients develop acute or chronic radiodermatitis with or without associated variablecutaneous manifestations. Theseside effects of ionizing radiation significantly affect patient’squality of life, also disturbs the treatment schedule. In the present study acute radiodermatitiswas found to be more prevalent than chronic radiodermatitis. However, further research isnecessary in order to effectively prevent, manage and reduce such complications.