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Background: Breast cancer is among the most prevalent cancers in women. Radiotherapy is an important part in treatment of breast cancer, associated with some side-effects, including skin dermatitis. Dermatitis may be severe and impair quality of life. Multiple agents have been studied, but no standard treatment is yet available. Silicone based gel (StrataXRT) was promising in some studies in reducing skin inflammation and also radiotherapy-induced dermatitis. Method: This was a randomized trial on 100 women with breast cancer who had undergone quadrantectomy for breast cancer. They received StrataXRT gel or best supportive care during radiotherapy. Dermatitis area and grade of dermatitis were measured. Results: Regarding the mean size of radiation-induced dermatitis area, there was a significant difference between the intervention (36.88 cm² ± 69.93) and control (83.83 cm² week, dermatitis was significantly more severe in the control group. Conclusion: It seems that StrataXRT is helpful in decreasing radiotherapy-induced dermatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of hydrocortisone enema in preventing radiation proctitis in patients with rectal cancer undergoing short-course radiotherapy (SCRT)., Methods: This phase II randomized controlled trial enrolled patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced rectal cancer (clinically staged T3-4 and/or N1-2M0). Participants received a median of 4 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (capecitabine plus oxaliplatin) followed by 3-dimensional conformal SCRT (25 Gy in 5 fractions). Patients were randomly assigned to receive either a hydrocortisone enema (n=50) or a placebo (n=51) once daily for 5 consecutive days during SCRT. The primary endpoint was the incidence and severity of acute proctitis., Results: Of the 111 eligible patients, 101 were included in the study. Baseline characteristics, including sex, age, performance status, and tumor location, were comparable across the treatment arms. None of the patients experienced grade 4 acute gastrointestinal toxicity or had to discontinue treatment due to treatment-related adverse effects. Patients in the hydrocortisone arm experienced significantly less severe proctitis (P<0.001), diarrhea (P=0.023), and rectal pain (P<0.001) than those in the placebo arm. Additionally, the duration of acute gastrointestinal toxicity following SCRT was significantly shorter in patients receiving hydrocortisone (P<0.001)., Conclusion: Hydrocortisone enema was associated with a significant reduction in the severity of proctitis, diarrhea, and rectal pain compared to placebo. Additionally, patients treated with hydrocortisone experienced shorter durations of gastrointestinal toxicity following SCRT. This study highlights the potential benefits of hydrocortisone enema in managing radiation-induced toxicity in rectal cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Background: Trastuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). This post-marketing surveillance evaluates the safety of a trastuzumab biosimilar (AryoTrust), produced by AryoGen Co. Iran in Iranian women with HER2-positive non-metastatic breast cancer (BC)., Research Design and Methods: The patients who had undergone adjuvant chemotherapy regimens received trastuzumab every 3 weeks for nine cycles. The study started in February 2017 and finished in August 2022. Data regarding safety were collected using booklets and then analyzed., Results: A total of 597 women with a mean ±SD age of 48.13 ± 10.18 years underwent 5,313 injection cycles. They received pre-study chemotherapies consisting of anthracyclines, taxanes, both, or other medications in 6.70, 7.20, 82.41, and 2.01% of the cases, respectively. One hundred and thirty-nine patients experienced at least one adverse event (AE). The most common AEs were decreased ejection fraction (EF, 5.7%), peripheral neuropathy (5.36%), and nausea (5.19%). Meningioma was the only life-threatening serious AE. Furthermore, bone pain and infusion-related reactions were the two most common grade three AEs. Nevertheless, the mean EF of patients did not change notably during the study., Conclusions: The results demonstrate that this trastuzumab biosimilar is a generally well tolerated and safe treatment for HER2-positive BC., Clinical Trial Registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov identifier is NCT06021379.