Acute radiation dermatitis in breast cancer: topical therapy with vitamin E acetate in lipophilic gel base

BACKGROUND Radiotherapy can cause adverse skin reactions over the course of their treatment. Currently, management is based on several tropical products although there is no gold-standard approach to prevention and management of radiation toxicity. METHOD We report our experience of vitamin E acetate in the treatment of radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients who experienced grade 4 side effects (according to Radiation Therapy Oncology Group criteria). RESULTS Clinical management consisted of oral antibiotics and local application of vitamin E acetate and local escarectomy. All of the patients achieved complete re-epithelialization within 40 days. CONCLUSION Skin ulceration and necrosis post-radiation may interrupt oncological treatment in breast cancer patients. In acute radiodermatitis with skin necrosis, we propose the use of oral antibiotics together with escarectomy and the application of vitamin E acetate to facilitate the healing process in order to minimize the interruption to the oncological treatment.