Effect of Huanglian ointment combined with local hyperbaric oxygen spray on radiation-induced skin damage in patients with esophageal cancer

Objective To analyze the effects of Huanglian ointment combined with local hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) spray on radiation-induced skin injury (RISI) and the levels of serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) , tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in patients with esophageal cancer . Methods A retrospective study was performed on 82 esophageal cancer patients with RISI admitted to Weifang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2021 to January 2022 using convenience sampling method. Forty-one patients who received local hyperbaric oxygens pray were divided into control group, while 41 patients who received Huanglian ointment combined with local hyperbaric oxygens pray were divided into observation group. The following indicators were compared between two groups, including clinical efficacy, skin injury severity grading after treatment, levels of serum IL-6, TNF-α and EGF, dressing changes, skin lesion healing time, modified scoring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) index, visual analogue scale (VAS) , scarring rate and radiation-induced skin infection rate. Results The total clinical effective rate in observation group was significantly higher than that in control group (95.12% vs 68.29%, P＜0.01) .After treatment, the grading of skin damage in observation group was superior to that in control group (P＜0.05) , the serum levels of IL-6 and TNF in observation group were significantly lower than that in control group (P＜0.05) , and the EGF level was higher than that in control group (P＜0.05) . Compared with control group, the number of dressing changes significantly reduced, and the healing time of skin lesions was shortened significantly in observation group (P＜0.05) . The modified SCORAD score, VAS and radiation-induced skin infection rate (2.44% vs 19.51%) in observation group were statistically lower than those in control group (P＜0.05) . Conclusion Huanglian ointment combined with local HBO spray can effectively improve the skin condition of RISI patients with esophageal cancer, reduce the frequency of dressing changes, shorten the healing time of skin lesions, reduce inflammatory reactions and pain, and reduce the rate of radiation skin infection. The clinical efficacy is significant.