KNUCH

It is already well known that anticancer drugs cause various skin changes. Skin changes can occur all over the body, or locally, such as around the blood vessels where the anticancer drug is administered, the injection site, or the area exposed to radiation. There are no general rules, but they can appear in different forms depending on the individual's physical condition and treatment method. An itchiness and dry skin can occur, and a red rash can occur.

Hair growth problems, inflammation around nails, and pain often occur. In particular, with the recent development of biotechnology, various new drugs have been developed and used, and side effects that have not been seen in the past are increasing.

This type of skin change and discomfort caused by chemotherapy is called "cancer drug skin-specific reaction". In response, the dermatology department of Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital aims to minimize discomfort and help continue taking anticancer drugs by controlling skin-specific reactions that occur in patients using anticancer drugs as early as possible.

- Cause
Anti-cancer drugs The skin-specific reaction occurs because anticancer drugs damage not only cancer cells but also skin cells. The rapid division of cancer cells is the biggest feature that distinguishes cancer cells from normal cells. Traditional cytotoxic anticancer drugs aim to selectively destroy rapidly dividing cells based on these characteristics of cancer cells. However, because not only cancer cells but also skin cells, intestinal mucosa cells, and bone marrow cells among normal cells rapidly divide, these normal cells also have side effects that are damaged by anticancer drugs.

In addition, recently, selective anticancer drugs (targeted drugs) that target genes or receptors that are easily found in cancer cells are widely used, and these targets are also distributed on the skin, which can cause specific reactions to the skin.

- Diagnostic and examination
Skin specific reactions caused by anticancer drugs are very well known, and they often occur in specific ways for each anticancer drug, so most of them do not require special tests and can be diagnosed only with a medical history. However, skin biopsy may be necessary in some cases.