[Use of an amorphous dressing in the skin care of patients after radiotherapy].

INTRODUCTION

Skin wounds caused by acute radiogen toxicity are an important side effect caused by radiotherapy treatment, therefore the prevention and immediate care is a challenge for the nursing staff. The actual traditional treatment is based on Liniment Oleocalcareo creams with Zinc Oxide as a principal agreement, but we have discovered a new alternative that at a first instance respond more effectively to the patients needs, and are classified with the terminology "amourphous dressing".

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

Retrospective study of the application of the amorphous dressing on 41 patients during the period between February and June 1998 in the Radiotherapy Unit of the "Hospital Universitario Sant Joan de Reus" (Tarragona).

RESULTS

The application of the amorphous dressing has allowed us to evidence a slowness and decrease in the intensity of the skin damage caused by the radiation treatment. There has been a 63.86% decrease of the nursing treatment of the skin wounds as a consequence of the radiotherapy. The use of the amourphous dressing with Zinc Oxide favours the ephithelization of the moist wounds. No adverse reaction of the dressing has been observed during the time of the study, and no infections process has been detected, in none of the case was the radiotherapy treatment interrupted due to radiodermatitis, and in none of the cases an alternative dressing was needed. In some cases the amourphous dressing in combination with a tulle and a polyamide grille the healing time of the radiodermitis wound was significantly decreased. It has also been verified that the application as well as the removal of the dressing does not involve any difficulty neither for the patients nor for the nursing staff. There also has been a better level of acceptance of the new amourphous dressing as well from both patients and staff, seeing that the therapeutic results is significantly superior than that of the previously used methods.

CONCLUSIONS

Having carried out the study in our Radiotherapy Unit we can assure that the new amourphous dressing, along with a strict control of the patient's evolution, increases the comfort and the quality of life of the patients. The multidisciplinary acceptance of the new treatment in a protocolized manner implies an increase in the patient quality care as well as contributing to a more efficient allocation of resources.