Effects of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy on skin toxicity and skin-related quality of life in patients with lung cancer: An observational study

This study aimed to describe the severities and locations of skin toxicity, and to analyze their association with the quality of life in patients with advanced NSCLC who received EGFR-TKI therapy as first-line treatment. This cross-sectional and correlation study was conducted at a tertiary medical center in northern Taiwan between July 2015 and March 2016. Skin toxicity was assessed and graded using the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.03). The Skindex-16 scale was used to measure the skin disease-related quality of life. A total of 146 NSCLC patients who received EGFR-TKI therapy within the first 3 months of diagnosis were included in this study; 93.2% of these patients experienced skin toxicities. Approximately 70% of the patients developed xerosis and pruritus, while 50% had papulopustular eruptions and paronychia. The mean skin symptom impact score was 5.38 (standard deviation = 2.65). The skin-related quality of life varied widely among the participants but remained acceptable (mean score = 13.96, standard deviation = 16.55). Skin symptoms correlated significantly with poor quality of life (r = 0.50, P 
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Research Article: Observational Study Source Type: research