The radiotherapy after surgery reduces the risk of recurrence and death is widely used for standard treatment for cancer including breast cancer and head and neck cancer. However, radiation dermatitis is a common side effect and major adverse event of radiotherapy. Radiation induces skin inflammation resulting in redness, itchiness and peeling skin. Radiation dermatitis may be acute or chronic. Acute skin changes occur within 90 days of initiating therapy due to inflammation and DNA damage and chronic skin changes may occur after several weeks or years. Radiation-irritated skin is a treatment-induced symptom caused by radiation dose-limiting toxicity. It damages skin structure and causes a variety of symptoms of cuticle thinning, reducing of collagen in subcutaneous, sweat glands damage, sebaceous glands damage and basal membrane damage. These conditions lead patients to lost work productivity, wound care costs, social isolation, altered body image and affect a patient's quality of life and mental health both during and after treatment and even interrupts the treatment schedule. The treatment of radiation dermatitis is an essential component of radiotherapy. The common treatment includes agents and other dressing products, such as corticosteroid cream, hyaluronic acid, aloe and sucralfate, which are used to prevent or reduce severity of dermatitis. But there is no clear therapeutic or nursing guideline supporting continuous treatment of radiation dermatitis by topical agents currently. In this study, Radiation Care® gel which contain Japanese honeysuckle extract will be used in breast and head and neck cancer patients to test the safety and efficacy to prevent radiation dermatitis and alleviate their radiation-irritated skin symptoms. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical outcomes of "Radiation Care" gel application in breast cancer and head and neck cancer patients who have radiation dermatitis or radiation-irritated skin due to the radiotherapy.
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To observe the proportion of patients with grade 2 radiation dermatitis (according to CTCAE) at week 5.
Timeframe: at 5 weeks