Prevention of Radiodermatitis in Breast and Head and Neck Cancer Patients in Cyprus

Angelos Kassianos100 enrolled

Overview

The treatment of cancer as a multidimensional disease has improved in recent years with the development of new chemotherapies, targeted biological therapies or radiation therapy protocols and have led to an overall improvement in the survival of oncology patients. These treatments often cause adverse effects on the skin, which can be accompanied by physical and mental suffering and have a significant impact on patients' quality of life. Improving the quality of life of patients is today a therapeutic challenge. The objective of this clinical study is to assess the tolerability of an innovative skin cosmetic product that will be developed specifically for use during curative anticancer treatments, as well as to study the impact on quality of life of skin side effects caused by the treatments.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

TRIPLE

Enrollment

100

Conditions

Head and Neck Cancer Breast Cancer

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 100 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * over 18 years of age, * understand and be able to provide signed consent for the purpose of the research, * be diagnosed with breast or head and neck cancer, * undergo subfractionated radiotherapy of the breast in 15 sessions of a total dose of 40-42Gy, with or without the administration of a booster dose (boost), * to know the Greek or English language well * any wound should have healed after radiotherapy. The criteria will be evaluated by the medical staff of the hospital. Exclusion Criteria: * those who do not meet the aforementioned inclusion criteria as well as: * those who suffer from inflammatory cancer, * those who have untreated wounds and/or other serious dermatological problems * those with severe/extensive burns * those who suffer from serious mental disorders (dementia, drug addiction, etc.) that require intensive treatment or monitoring, * those who have a sensitivity/allergy to any of the product's ingredients. The criteria will be evaluated by the medical staff of the hospital.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Dermatological Quality of Life

Questionnaire SKINDEX-17 \| The Skindex-17 is a dermatological HRQoL instrument that was derived from the Skindex-29 using Rasch psychometric analysis. It consists of 17 items instead of 29, and answers are given on a four-point scale instead of a five-point scale. The tool offers 2 measures: psychosocial health and symptomatology with higher scores reporting increased quality of life and symptomatology respectively. Change in dermatological quality of life immediately after treatment will be used as the primary outcome.

Time frame: Baseline (1 month before radiotherapy), during therapy (15 days), 1 week post therapy, 1 month later

Secondary Outcomes

Dermatological Quality of Life (b)

Dermatology Quality of Life Index Questionnaire \| The Dermatological Quality of Life Index (DLQI) is a tool often used by dermatologists to assess the impact of skin disease on quality of life in areas such as work and social activities, as well as patients' symptoms and feelings about their pathological condition. The DLQI is calculated by summing the score of each question resulting in a maximum of 30 and a minimum of 0. The higher the score, the more the quality of life is reduced/affected. DLQI can also be expressed as a percentage of the maximum possible score of 30 (ie % of 30). There will be 3 measurements during treatment one every 5 days.

Time frame: Baseline (1 month before radiotherapy), First day of therapy with Mediskin products (and after radiotherapy), During therapy (15 days), 1 week post therapy

Health Related Quality of Life

EORTC QLQ-C30 Questionnaire \| European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Questionnaire that assesses the quality of life of cancer patients (EORTC QLQ - C30) (Aaronson et al 1993, Osaba et al 1994). We will use the validated Greek version of this result version 3. The questionnaire is summed through a specific algorithm into 4 categories: physical function, psychological function, social function and a series of symptoms such as pain, fatigue, etc. A higher score in each means better functioning (in functioning subpscales), better quality of life (in the global quality of life subscale) and worse symptoms (in symptomatology sub-scales). The change in measurement will be used both with the end of treatment as well as 1 month later.

Time frame: Baseline (1 month before radiotherapy), First day of therapy with Mediskin products (and after radiotherapy), during therapy (15 days), 1 week post therapy, 1 month later

Real time quality of life

To better understand the patient's condition during the treatment we will use a mobile application (PRICE EMA app) which was created by researchers of the University of Cyprus, Cyprus University of Technology and CYENS with the data stored in a GDPR compliant cloud based system accessible only through codes and encoded to match the redcap data. We will measure quality of life using an adapted version of the EORTC QLQ C30 global quality of life subscale with a higher score on a 0-100 scale indicating better quality of life, through brief self-reports that patients will complete through in-app notifications. The development of the PRICE methodology and tool is explained here: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491101.3503562?casa\_token=\_pSlJoCNphIAAAAA:RMI4xGtq2J-T9BJHqDjAU3R-pVx3OdqR0gIRAvNLBHuP6c8gt3YRRO4CryevCopqBOVAZQ-X7\_7