Determination of Radiotherapy-Related Acute Side Effects; A Starting Point for the Possible Implementation of a Clinical Pharmacy Services in the Radiological Unit in Turkey

Background: Although it is considered as important part in cancer therapy, radiotherapy is associated with many acute side effects. The clinical pharmacist in clinical oncology practice provides a well-defined role in the assessment and monitoring of side effects during treatment. The aim of this study was to explore Radiotherapy-Related Acute Side Effects (RRASEs) in a real-life setting at the radiology unit and whether there is a possibility for providing radiology unit-based clinical pharmacy supportive services in collaboration with other healthcare professionals for cancer patients admitted for radiotherapy application. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out on cancer patients admitted for radiotherapy application at the radiology unit. During the study, detection of RRASEs incidence and their outlined treatments were assessed. Results: RRASEs observed was 494 with a mean number of 6.175±2.88 per patient. A high incidence of RRASEs was encountered among male patients 61.3%. Nausea and vomiting were the most common acute side effects encountered 82.5% followed by loss of appetite 73.8%. There was a significant correlation between the incidence of RRASEs and a number of factors that were related to age greater than 60 years (P=0.0003), cigarette smoking (P=0.0084), comorbidities (P=0.0328), carcinoma type and stage (P=0.0098) and (P=0.0001) respectively. Conclusion: Radiotherapy application is associated with the incidence of different acute side effects that require proper treatment and follow-up. This could be further achieved through the introduction of the clinical pharmacist services in collaboration with other healthcare professionals for better patient-related health outcomes.