Application of light-emitting diode to prevent acute radiodermatitis in patients with breast cancer

Abstract

In this study, we explored the effects and principles of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in preventing acute radiodermatitis (RD) in breast cancer patients. Twenty patients with breast cancer, who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and had undergone modified radical mastectomy, were selected and administered standard preventive radiotherapy. Fifteen days after the first radiotherapy dose, the patients were randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group and subjected to additional LED exposure. Twenty-one days after LED illumination, the preventive effect of LED on RD was evaluated by statistically analyzing the RD scores of the two groups. The preventive effects were inferred by histological and gene expression analyses. The results showed that compared with the control group, the RD score of the experimental group did not change significantly, so that the prevention effect of LED was significant. Our results showed that LED exposure increased skin appendage (p=0.041), accelerated microvascular growth (p=0.007), and increased IL-10 and MMP-9 expression (p<0.005). Thus, LED exposure may have important clinical significance in treating breast cancer patients.

Keywords

• light-emitting diode
• breast cancer
• radiodermatitis
• nursing
• prevent