Purpose or Objective: On the basis of successful intralesional steroid injection for dermatologic scars treatment such as keloids and burn scars, we planned to evaluate intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection in treatment of RIF as there is no data available for its use for this indication.
Material and Methods: 30 patients with RIF of different sites (19 cases breast, 4 cases neck, 3 back, 2 face and 2 lower limbs) at least 6 months after end of radiation were included in our study. They were treated by intralesional Triamcinolone acetonide injection. Injections were carried out by dermojet at 1 cm interval. Injections were repeated every 2 weeks for 3months. Assessment was done according to RTOG grading before treatment and repeated during and 3 months after end of treatment.
Results: We documented over all response rates of 80%, marked and complete improvement of RIF 43.33%, 30% showed one grade improvement, 6.67% had two grades improvement, while 20% of patients didn't respond (P-value <0.001). Pain score was significantly improved (p value <0.001), 44% of the included patients had complete improvement of pain, 36% had mild residual pain and 20% of patients expressed moderate residual pain. No significant adverse events were observed. The results were significantly better with younger age group (P-value= 0.021), smaller BMI (p-value=0.007), patients who received lower radiation doses (P value =0.03), smaller number of radiotherapy treatment sessions (P-value= 0.05), smaller radiation field sizes (P value=0.001), and patients with shorter duration of RIF (P value <0.001).
Conclusion: Intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injection can be considered as an effective in treatment of RIF. It can be considered as a promising effective, safe, less costly therapeutic option in treatment of RIF. To the best of our knowledge, no previous data are available about the use of intralesional injection of triamcinolone acetonide for treatment of RIF.