Saturday, June 4, 2016

FAQ about Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma from NPC OneHeart

FAQ about Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma from NPC OneHeart's FB pages


https://www.dropbox.com/l/s/vlgYswmxj138W3qtGPllHu

Example :

A : Dr. Choo, why chemo doctor advises patient not to take beet root and other antioxidant food/fruits during chemotherapy.
D : To answer whether antioxidant can be used during chemo is that it can as most natural antioxidant is weak and does not affect the effectiveness of the chemo or radiotherapy.
Chemo and radio aim to disrupt and kill cells by an oxidant effect and so, antioxidant reduces their effect - this is possible interaction only.

A : Dr. Choo, how to treat burnt skin caused by radiation? It takes long time to heal and get back to normal skin colour.

D : Choose a moisturiser without perfume ie if it smells nice, then don't apply to radiotherapy skin. Silver sulphadiaxine cream is by doctor prescription only and only needed during the 4 weeks of completion of RT when skin layer is peeled off. It is a cream used in all fire and water burns and used only in hospital. After 4 weeks, can use any moisturiser like QV, Aquoes, Cetaphil, aloe vera, bio oil , physiogel. All the functions are really into sealing in moisture in the skin. Use 2-3 times a day frequently is more important than what type of cream to put on. More specialise cream includes 10% urea for itch and Restoderm by Cetaphil for eczema as it contains ceramide. But more expensive. I advise patient to expect permanent dry skin as hence moisturiser is for life, but expect the darken skin to get back to normal 3-6 months on completion of radiotherapy.
The itch is due to dry skin, darken skin is due to poor healing as skin is too dry. Skin scarring is more due to dry skin. So, moisturiser for dry skin will help. The reason for dry skin is radiotherapy damages the sweat gland of the skin and so the skin does not sweat like normal and will always be dry.

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