A Prospective Observational Study of Dermatological Adverse Effects of Chemotherapeutic Agents: Experience From A Tertiary Centre

Introduction:Cancer is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing parts of the world with the disease burden projected to grow exponentially in the future. International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is the specialized cancer agency of World Health Organization (WHO), reported 14.1 million new cancer cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths in 2012. Materials and Methods:A total of 106 patients attending the oncology outpatient department or those admitted in the oncology ward of GovtMedical College (GMC), Jammu, India between January 2020 and December 2020 were prospectively studied the cutaneous adverse effects related to chemotherapy were noted.We included patients ofboth sexes who suffered from mucocutaneous adverseeffects which began after initiation of the anti-cancer drug. Patient’s developing cutaneous manifestations as a result of internal malignancies, patients who already had mucocutaneous symptoms at the start of therapy, and those on radiotherapy were excluded from the study. Results:Breast cancer was the most common cancer seen in 24 patients followed by ovarian cancer in 16 patients,Lung cancer in 14 patients and Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in 12 patients. The remaining types are depictedin Figure 1.Of the 106 patients, 50 (47%) were males with a meanage of 46.9 years and 56 (53%) were females with amean age of 47.4 years. Nail changes were the mostcommon adverse effect noticed in 66 (62.2%) patients,followed by hair changes in 40 (37.7%), skin changes in 38(33.9%) and mucosal changes in 4 (3.7%) patients[Figure 2].Conclusion:Dermatological side effects related to chemotherapeutic agents is common but timely recognized, being a visible occurrence most of the times. Although this creates an alarming apprehension among the treating physician as well as the patients and their attendants, yet most of the times, the features are not of such serious nature as to warrant withdrawal or changeover of the therapy. But a thorough knowledge is essential to alleviate such an apprehension and avoid a wrong decision