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International consensus supported acute radiation dermatitis scoring tool

An international Delphi panel approved a three-step acute radiation dermatitis tool integrating patient-reported symptoms and clinician assessment.

RadOncToday · ·1 min read

KEY POINTS

  • Modified Delphi consensus study led by the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer Oncodermatology Study Group to develop an acute radiation dermatitis scoring tool.
  • The panel included 31 international experts from 15 countries or regions and 5 disciplines, supplemented by interviews with 3 patient advocates.
  • Consensus was reached for 33 of 40 statements; the final tool was approved by 29 of 31 panel members (93.5%).
  • The tool has 3 steps: patient-reported symptom scoring, healthcare professional assessment of overall symptom burden, and final clinician-integrated acute radiation dermatitis grade.
  • Moist desquamation is stratified into Grade 3A versus 3B based on skin fold involvement and ≤25% versus >25% irradiated-area involvement; Grade 4 includes spontaneous bleeding, ulceration, tissue necrosis, or radiation therapy interruption.

CLINICAL TAKEAWAY

This consensus tool directly addresses a real problem in radiation dermatitis research: current grading systems are inconsistent and often underweight the patient experience. It may help standardize reporting across trials and clinics, especially for breast, head and neck, vulvar, and anal radiotherapy settings where skin toxicity is clinically prominent. But this is consensus development, not validation; reliability, feasibility, inter-rater consistency, and cross-population applicability still need prospective testing.

SOURCE

International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics