Abstract
Background and purpose
Mepitel Film (MF) has been demonstrated to reduce the severity of radiation dermatitis (RD) in patients receiving breast cancer radiotherapy (RT). The objective of this study was to characterize patient-reported experience with MF use, including its impact on daily activities and wellbeing.
Materials and methods
This single-institution study analyzed anonymized responses to a questionnaire completed by patients who used MF for the prevention of RD during breast cancer RT.
Results
Of the 254 patients contacted, 192 patients completed the survey. Most patients disagreed or strongly disagreed that MF limited their ability to perform their daily activities, including household chores (88%, n = 169/191), their ability to work (83%, n = 157/189), or their ability to sleep (85%, n = 163/191). Furthermore, patients agreed or strongly agreed MF was comfortable on their skin (67%, n = 126/189) and protected their skin from rubbing against clothing (86%, n = 161/188). Some patients agreed or strongly agreed that MF affected their ability to shower (31%, n = 50/162), wear bras (28%, n = 51/185), and impacted their level of pruritus (35%, n = 67/189). However, most patients agreed or strongly agreed that their overall experience with MF was positive (92%, n = 173/189) and would recommend MF to a friend undergoing breast cancer RT (88%, n = 166/188).
Conclusion
MF use is associated with positive patient-reported experience during breast RT with minimal impact on daily activities.
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Data Availability
All data used in the included tables and figures.
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Contributions
Milena Gojsevic distributed patient surveys, wrote the main manuscript text, and prepared figures. Samantha Kennedy and Thenugaa Rajeswaran distributed patient surveys and edited the manuscript, Patries Herst, Amir H. Safavi, Kimberly Corbin, Rosemary Hill, Irene Karam, William Tran, Katherine Carothers, François Gallant, Mark Trombetta, William T. Arscott, Saba Shariati, Jacqueline Lam, Shereen Akkila, Tara Behroozian, and Elwyn Zhang edited and commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Edward Chow conceptualized this work, supervised as joint senior authors with Irene Karam, and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version.
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Ethics
The questionnaire and methodology for this study was approved by the Research Ethics Board (REB) at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center (REB #: 5565). All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Competing interests
Edward Chow received the free supply of Mepitel Film in a randomized controlled trial of Mepitel Film in the prevention of radiation dermatitis in breast cancer. The authors have no relevant financial interests to disclose.
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Gojsevic, M., Kennedy, S., Rajeswaran, T. et al. Patient-reported experience with the use of Mepitel Film for prevention of acute radiation dermatitis in breast cancer. Support Care Cancer 32, 89 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08302-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-023-08302-4