Acute radiation dermatitis (ARD) is a common side effect of radiation therapy and is characterized by erythema, dry desquamation or moist desquamation. This wet desquamation is a very painful condition for the patient and often leads to interruption of radiotherapy. The objective of this article is to assess the efficacy of topical corticosteroids in the prevention of ARD compared with placebo, other topical medication or no treatment. The prophylactic application of topical corticosteroid among patients undergoing radiotherapy appears to significantly reduce the incidence of ARD, specifically moist desquamation, compared with other treatments. Future trials with a more standardized measure of radiation dermatitis grading are recommended. Further research may also be conducted to determine if a mildly potent, midpotent or super potent topical steroid will be more effective in preventing ARD.

PURPOSE In the Philippines, a lower middle-income country in Southeast Asia, 6 of 10 Filipinos die without seeing a doctor. To ensure universal access to cancer care, providers must be equitably distributed. Therefore, we evaluated the distribution of oncologists across all 17 regions in the Philippines. METHODS We gathered data from the official websites of national medical societies on their members' regional area of practice: Philippine Society of Medical Oncology, Philippine Radiation Oncology Society, Surgical Oncology Society of the Philippines, Society of Gynecologic Oncologists of the Philippines, and Philippine Society of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. We compared this with the regional census to determine the number of board-certified oncologists per 100,000 Filipinos. RESULTS For a population of almost 110 million, the Philippines has a total of 348 medical oncologists, 164 surgical oncologists, 99 radiation oncologists, 142 gynecologic oncologists, and 35 hospice and palliative medicine (HPM) specialists. This translates to 0.32 medical oncologists, 0.15 surgical oncologists, 0.09 radiation oncologists, 0.13 gynecologic oncologists, and 0.03 HPM specialists for every 100,000 Filipinos. The number of oncologists is highest in the National Capital Region in Luzon and lowest in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. All regions have at least one medical and gynecologic oncologist. Two regions (12%) have no surgical oncologists, five regions (29%) have no radiation oncologists, and eight regions (47%) have no HPM specialists. CONCLUSION Efforts are needed to increase the number of oncologists and improve equity in their distribution to ensure universal access to cancer care in the Philippines.

Background. Accidental radiation exposure can occur anytime. Biodosimeters help in quantifying the absorbed dose of individuals who are not equipped with personal dosimeters during radiation exposure. The dicentric assay can quantify radiation damage by correlating radiation dose exposure with the frequency of dicentric chromosomes in the peripheral lymphocytes extracted from exposed individuals. Objective. The study aims to present the interim results of the reference dose-response curve for a Philippine radiotherapy facility constructed using a 6MV linear accelerator (ClinacX, Varian). Methods. Samples of peripheral blood from healthy volunteers were irradiated in a customized water phantom of doses 0.10 to 5.0 Gray using a linear accelerator. The irradiated samples were cultured and analyzed following the International Atomic Energy Agency Cytogenetic Dosimetry Protocol (2011) with modifications. Linear-quadratic model curve fitting and further statistical analysis were done using CABAS (Chromosome Aberration Calculation Software Version 2.0) and Dose Estimate (Version 5.2). Interim results of the samples were used to generate these curves. Results. The dose-response curve generated from the preliminary results were comparable to published dose response curves from international cytogenetic laboratories. Conclusion. The generated dose-response calibration curve will be useful for medical triage of the public and radiologic staff accidentally exposed to radiation during medical procedures or in the event of nuclear accidents.