Herbal Turmeric Protects the Skin Against Radiodermatitis

By Kyle J. Norton

Radiodermatitis is a skin condition caused by exposure to ionizing radiation, particularly in patients with radiotherapy during cancer treatment.

Most common symptoms of RD are red patches accompanied by blistering.

Radiodermatitis can be classified 

* Acute radiodermatitis develops in a few hours or weeks after the first exposure to radiation. The condition is healed itself  in a short period of time

* Chronic RD is a condition of radiodermatitis that develops months, years or even decades after radiation.

The persistent reaction of RD can lead to complication of telangiectasia, a condition of widened venules (tiny blood vessels) that cause threadlike red lines or patterns on the skin, leading to
reduced quality of life and cosmetic outcome.

Dr. Sophie Seité, the lead scientist in the differentiation of the prevention and treatment of acute and chronic radiodermatitis wrote, "Today, treatment of radiodermatitis reactions is in its infancy. Although there is insufficient evidence available to form recommendations that would prevent or reduce radiodermatitis, some advances have been made using low-level light therapy (LLLT) or vascular lasers to control the symptoms".

And, "Some recent preclinical and clinical research suggests that LLLT has biostimulating properties which allow the tissues to regenerate and heal faster, reduce inflammation, and prevent fibrosis. Also, in late-onset radiodermatitis pulsed dye laser treatment has been shown to be beneficial in clearing radiation-induced telangiectasia. In the absence of evidence-based recommendations, the objective of this paper is to review how to prevent or manage the symptoms of radiodermatitis reactions".

Turmeric is a perennial plant in the genus Curcuma, belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, native to tropical South Asia.

The herb has been used in traditional medicine as anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, colorant, antiseptic, wound healing agent, and for the treatment of flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

With an aim to discover a natural compound for the treatment of radiodermatitis, a condition found in occurs in 95% of patients receiving radiation therapy (RT) for cancer, researchers examined the efficacy of oral curcumin, one of the biologically active components in turmeric, at reducing radiation dermatitis severity (RDS) at the end of RT, using the RDS scale, compared to placebo.


The multisite, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial involved in 686 breast cancer patients who received either four 500-mg capsules of placebo or curcumin three times daily throughout their prescribed course of RT until 1-week post-RT.

More than 3% of the curcumin-treated group showed a reduction of radiation dermatitis severity compared to placebo.

The treatment group also report a change in pain, symptoms, and quality of life however, they were not statistically significant between arms.

In other words, oral curcumin reduced radiation dermatitis severity compared to placebo but not significantly.

In order to clarify the effect of curcumin on reducing radiation dermatitis severity (RDS) researchers assessed the ability of curcumin in 30 breast cancer patients.

The study involved 30 adult females with noninflammatory breast cancer or carcinoma in situ prescribed RT (receiving radiotherapy) without concurrent chemotherapy, received 2.0 grams of curcumin or placebo orally three times per day (i.e., 6.0 grams daily) throughout their course of RT.

According to the weekly assessments and the Standard pooled variances t-test, curcumin reduced RDS compared to placebo at end of treatment.


Furthermore, 28.6% of curcumin-treated patients had moist desquamation, compared to placebo of 87.5%, according to Fisher's exact test.

Demographics, compliance, radiation skin dose, redness, pain or symptoms are not significant differences in both groups.

Based on the findings, researchers wrote in the final report, "oral curcumin, 6.0 g daily during radiotherapy, reduced the severity of radiation dermatitis in breast cancer patients".

Taken altogether, turmeric processed a high amount of bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of radiodermatitis, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of turmeric in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Oral curcumin for radiation dermatitis: a URCC NCORP study of 686 breast cancer patients by Ryan Wolf J1,2,3, Heckler CE4,5, Guido JJ4,5, Peoples AR4, Gewandter JS6, Ling M7, Vinciguerra VP8, Anderson T9, Evans L10, Wade J11, Pentland AP12, Morrow GR. (PubMed)
(2) Curcumin for radiation dermatitis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of thirty breast cancer patients by Ryan JL1, Heckler CE, Ling M, Katz A, Williams JP, Pentland AP, Morrow GR. (PubMed)
(3) Prevention and treatment of acute and chronic radiodermatitis by Sophie Seité,1 René-Jean Bensadoun,2 and Jean-Michel Mazer. (PMC)