Evidence-based practices in the treatment and control of radiodermatitis in oncological patients

Introduction: Radiotherapy is a treatment option used to fight various types of cancer, such therapy causes important changes, often cutaneous-mucosal toxicity, called radiodermatitis, establishing the inflammatory process. Early identification of these reactions is essential so that appropriate nursing interventions can be implemented. The nurse is the professional indicated to provide this assistance to patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment. Objective: to know nurses' practices in the treatment and control of radiodermatitis in cancer patients. Methodology: this is an integrative review carried out in LILACS, BDENF and MEDLINE databases, through the Virtual Health Library (VHL); the studies used were published between 2017 and 2021. For the analysis of the results, four categories were identified in the sample of articles. Results: in this review, only ten articles met the inclusion criteria, which mentioned the care practices of professional nurses related to the treatment of radiodermatitis. All being published in national journals. It was found that, in this activity, a more specialized knowledge is required from the nurse. It was possible to observe that the most practiced practice is the nursing consultation, which was shown to be important for the effective treatment of radiodermatitis. Conclusion: the nurse, in fact, is the professional of great relevance in this scenario and the nursing consultation is an essential practice for the success of the treatment. As it is a matter of great relevance to the nursing field, we suggest that in future research, more studies are carried out addressing this topic. (author)