Topical Prevention of Radiation Dermatitis in Breast Cancer Patients: A Network Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Background/aim: Radiation dermatitis is a common complication of radiation therapy in breast cancer patients. Severe dermatitis may alter treatment schedules and clinical outcomes. The topical prevention strategy is the widely used option to prevent radiation dermatitis. However, the comparison between the current topical prevention strategies is insufficient. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the topical prevention efficacy of radiation dermatitis in patients with breast cancer through a network meta-analysis.

Patients and methods: This study followed The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Network Meta-Analyses guidelines. A random effects model was used to compare different treatments. The treatment modality ranking was evaluated using the P-score. I2 and Cochran's Q test were used to evaluate the heterogeneity among studies.

Results: Forty-five studies were analyzed in this systematic review. A total of 19 studies were finally included in this meta-analysis for grade 3 or higher radiation dermatitis, which included 18 treatment arms and 2,288 patients. The forest plot showed that none of the identified regimens were superior to standard care.

Conclusion: A more effective regimen than standard care for the prevention of grade 3 or higher radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients was not identified. Our network meta-analysis showed that current topical prevention strategies are similarly efficacious. However, since preventing severe radiation dermatitis is an important clinical challenge, further trials should be conducted to address this issue.

Keywords: Breast cancer; network meta-analysis; radiation dermatitis; radiotherapy; topical prevention.