Targeted Therapy and Chemotherapy-Associated Skin Toxicities: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

August 2020 in “ Oncology nursing forum ”

Jingyi Ding, Magdoleen H. Farah, Tarek Nayfeh, Konstantinos Malandris, Apostolos Manolopoulos, Pamela Ginex, Bashar Hasan, Hayley Dunnack Yackel, Rami Abd‐Rabu, Moutie Rajjoub, Larry J. Prokop, Rebecca L. Morgan, M. Hassan Murad

minocycline erlotinib pyridoxine hand-foot syndrome capecitabine scalp cooling alopecia chemotherapy acneform rash hair loss total alopecia

TLDR Minocycline reduces acne rash, pyridoxine lowers hand-foot syndrome risk, and scalp cooling lessens hair loss from cancer treatments.

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated interventions for preventing and managing skin toxicities related to cancer treatments, including data from 39 studies with 6,006 patients. Prophylactic minocycline was found to reduce acneform rash in patients treated with erlotinib, while pyridoxine 400 mg lowered the risk of hand-foot syndrome in capecitabine-treated patients. Scalp cooling was effective in reducing severe hair loss or total alopecia associated with chemotherapy. However, the certainty of evidence for several interventions was limited, indicating a need for further research.