How to Manage Radiation Injuries

Complex chronic ulcers due to irradiation are sometimes seen in patients who have undergone radiation therapy for malignancies or X-ray fluoroscopic procedures for ischemic heart disease or radiation accidents. Radiation-induced ulcers are difficult to treat because of the poor state of the wound bed. Radiation of tissues results in insufficient vascularity and tissue damage, leading to erythema and dermal atrophy with resultant tissue necrosis, infection, and later fibrosis, all of which are characteristics of chronic radiation injury syndrome [1]. More specifically, 95% of cancer patients receiving radiation therapy will develop some form of radiodermatitis, including erythema, dry desquamation, and moist desquamation [2]. These undesirable complications cause continuous distress for patients and impair their quality of life.