Most breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy develop radiodermatitis, making it one of the most prevalent adverse events during cancer treatment. The severity of radiodermatitis can pose a life-threatening risk to patients, lead to functional limitations, delay treatment (pauses for tissue recovery), reduce the radiation dose, and negatively impact health-related quality of life. There is no consensus on the ideal strategy for preventing radiodermatitis.
Photobiomodulation is a non-invasive strategythat may stimulate skin regeneration and minimize radiodermatitis without interfering with cancer treatment, with minimal risk (it may cause rare allergic-type complications or discomfort due to material contact) and low cost for both the patient and the healthcare system, making this approach highly relevant.
Reducing the use of pharmaceuticals, the duration of radiotherapy treatment, and the costs associated with managing radiodermatitis will have socioeconomic and environmental impacts, as this is a sustainable, safe, and cost-effective therapeutic approach with high applicability and clinical reproducibility.
Additionally, it can later be expanded to other types of cancer. This study hypothesizes that photobiomodulation can prevent and reduce complications associated with radiodermatitis in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy.
Therefore, the primary objective of this clinical trial is to assess the efficacy of photobiomodulation in preventing and reducing the severity of radiodermatitis in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy at Hospital do Câncer III of the Brazilian National Cancer Institute.
The secondary objectives include evaluating the incidence and severity grades of radiodermatitis; comparing the influence of photobiomodulation, according to the intervention group, on the occurrence and severity of radiodermatitis, pain, edema/lymphedema, paresthesia, functionality, skin quality, health-related quality of life, and sleep quality after radiotherapy; comparing the recovery time of radiodermatitis between groups; and assessing satisfaction, safety, and tolerability of photobiomodulation use.