Grease up.

Who doesn’t love a good ole fashioned practical randomized trial? This one randomized 143 women receiving post-mastectomy radiation to use topical Eucerin skin cream or mometasone furoate 0.1% cream twice daily during treatment to prevent grade 2 (patchy) or higher moist desquamation. Almost everyone received radiation to the chest wall with daily 3-10 mm bolus plus to the supraclavicular fossa with just under 50% receiving internal mammary nodal irradiation. Mometasone significantly reduced the rate of moist desquamation (67→ 44%) and also delayed the median time to grade 3 desquamation (36→ 46 days). The biggest predictor of developing skin toxicity was the hotspot, in particular the volume receiving >110% of the prescription. Only time will tell the effects of daily steroids on skin thinning and long-term cosmesis. TBL: Twice daily mometasone furoate 0.1% cream reduces the rate of moist desquamation in women receiving post-mastectomy radiation. | Ho, Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2018