BETTER EVIDENCE RELATED TO THE USE OF SOAPS IN SKIN CARE IN CANCER PATIENTS UNDERGOING RADIOTHERAPY

Introduction: Radiodermatitis is one of the most common adverse effects of radiotherapy, and is defined as a set of skin lesions, which manifests itself within a few days or weeks after starting this treatment. Among skin care, guidance in the nursing consultation on the use of an appropriate soap may minimize this event. Objective: To evaluate the best evidence related to the use of soaps in skin care in cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Method: This is a systematic literature review, through the IOP research strategy, whose guiding question is: What is the effectiveness of soaps in the care of the patient’s skin in radiotherapy? Held in May and June 2019, in 5 databases: CINAHL, via EBSCOhost; Embase; LILACS via BVS; Medline via PubMed and Web of Science. The inclusion criteria were: primary studies; in scientific article format; in Spanish, English and Portuguese languages; 10-year time cut (2009-2019), including the following descriptors: “radiodermatitis”, “soaps” and “radiotherapy”. 148 articles were found, and 42 were filtered by approximation of the theme. Withdrawal of 16 duplicates and exclusion of 7 articles without applicability to the area of cancerology and 14 secondary research sources. Of these, five articles covered the search. Critical appraisal was performed using the Critical Appraisal Tools. Results: The clinical practices have better evidence with the washing of the skin irradiated with water and moisturizing soap. They follow the the maxim of clean, dry and hydrated skin. Most studies recommend the Dove® or Simple® brand and discourage the concomitant use of deodorant and emollient lotions for head and neck and breast cancers. Other elected articles refer that the ideal soap should be soft, without perfume, free of lanolin and propylene glycol (alcohol) in its composition, pH varying 5~6, less irritating to the skin. Conclusion: There was a contradiction in the literature regarding the recommendations. Many moisturizing bar soaps have a higher pH than recommended and with perfume. Complementary studies on the pH variation of soaps on the skin of oncologic patients may offer more safety in the indication of the ideal soap in the nursing consultation guidelines.