[Uncommon dermatologic disorders triggered by radiation therapy of breast cancer: A case-series]

Abstract

Radiotherapy's main skin toxicities are now well-separated, acute (acute radiation dermatitis) or chronic complications (chronic radiation dermatitis, induced cutaneous carcinoma, aesthetic sequelae). Exceptionally, radiotherapy may induce, by isomorphic reaction or Koebner's phenomenon, some specific dermatosis. In this article, we report five new observations of these unusual complications of radiation therapy, occurring in very variable time after breast irradiation and remaining strictly localized in the irradiated field (cutaneous mastocytosis, Sweet syndrome, lichen planus, vitiligo). These cases emphasize the need to realize a systematic histological exam if any atypical skin lesion appears after radiotherapy, even long after.

Keywords: Koebner; Lichen plan; Lichen planus; Mastocytose; Mastocytosis; Radiotherapy; Radiothérapie; Sweet syndrome; Syndrome de Sweet; Vitiligo.