Skin care for cancer patients

摘要

ML Of the 1.5 million people diagnosed with cancer every year in the United States, approximately 900,000 will receive chemotherapy, approximately 600,000 will receive radiation, and most will undergo a surgical biopsy or procedure as part of their treatment. Among the patients who receive chemotherapy, approximately one third to one half will experience some sort of dermatologic adverse event. The most severe of these dermatologic adverse events occur with some of the newer drugs, the so-called targeted therapies. What is important to note is that many of these new drugs are being used to treat the most common types of cancers, such as lung, colorectal, and breast. In addition, among patients receiving radiation-for cancers of the head and neck, breast, genitals, and rectum-more than half will develop skin burns and irritation at the area of radiation. Among the patients who undergo surgery, approximately 10-15% will experience problems due to scarring. Taken as a whole, a great number of patients who are treated for the common types of cancers-lung, breast, and colorectal-receive either chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery, and a significant amount will have dermatologic adverse events. Moreover, once treatments are complete, most of the more than 13 million cancer survivors will be left with sequelae of their treatment, which are a constant reminder of their previous diagnosis.