Use of Chamomile and Calendula Creams to Prevent acute Radiodermatitis in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer: a Randomized Double Blind Clinical Trial

• Autor(a) principal: Andrade, Daniele Machado Oliveira
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Camargos, Mayara Goulart de, Contim, Divanice, Pereira, Gilberto de Araújo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Cancerologia (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://rbc.inca.gov.br/index.php/revista/article/view/1963
• topic: radiodermatite/prevenção e controle; neoplasias de cabeça e pescoço/radioterapia; camomila/efeitos dos fármacos; calendula/efeitos dos fármacos; radiodermatitis/prevention and control; head and neck neoplasms/radiotherapy; chamomile/drug effects; calendula/drug effects; radiodermatitis/prevención y control; neoplasias de cabeza y cuello/radioterapia; manzanilla/efectos de los fármacos; calendula/efectos de los fármacos

Introduction: Radiodermatitis is characterized by skin lesions resulting from exposure to ionizing radiation, affecting between 80-90% of patients undergoing radiotherapy in the head and neck region. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of using chamomile cream compared with calendula cream in preventing acute radiodermatitis in participants undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Method: Randomized, double-blind, prospective clinical trial with quantitative analysis. 23 participants randomly assigned to the group that used chamomile cream (n=12) or to the calendula cream group (n=11) were evaluated. The skin in the irradiation field was evaluated in the first radiotherapy session, every five sessions and after 30 days after the end of the treatment, according to the criteria of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG). Results: Participants had radiodermatitis in all the assessments, from grades 1 to 3, except in the first assessment. The highest mean level was observed in both groups in the sixth assessment (2.10±0.73 in the chamomile and 2.37±0.51 in the calendula group, respectively). In the chamomile group, the highest degree of radiodermatitis was 3, in the fifth and sixth evaluations, while in the calendula, grade 3 was observed for the first time in the sixth evaluation, remaining until the eighth. There was no statistically significant difference in the groups evaluated. Conclusion: There was equivalence in the effectiveness of the use of chamomile cream compared with calendula cream in the prevention of acute radiodermatitis in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy.