Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of skin erythema I. Technic of measurement and description of the reaction.

THE RADIOSENSITIVITY of the skin can be altered as a result of physiological status or external manipulation before, during, or after exposure to radiation. Alteration of skin temperature, concurrent with irradiation, is the most frequently reported method of modifying the sensitivity of the skin by objective measures (1–3). There is not, however, complete agreement among investigators in respect to the effect of altering the temperature of the skin (4–6). In 1960 our group reported a quantitative measure of skin change of both erythema and melanin formation, utilizing the reflectance spectrophotometer (7, 8). In view of the variation of observations of modification of radiation injury to human skin, the present study was undertaken in the hope that by employing this standardized quantitative technic the problem might be clarified. Materials And Methods Volunteer patients undergoing treatment for malignant disease were selected for this investigation. To explore the possibility that the pattern of events ...