| Abstract: |
Patients treated with systemic anticancer therapies often develop nail changes, which represent one of the most common toxicities reported by treated patients. Cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents mainly induce toxic effects on the nail bed and the nail matrix (onycholysis, pigmentary changes, Beau’s lines, onychomadesis, brittle nails). By contrast, periungual lesions (paronychia, pyogenic granuloma) are the most frequent nail-related adverse events reported with targeted anticancer therapies, especially with drugs targeting EGFR, mTOR, or MEK pathways.Most nail changes observed in this context are usually transitory and well tolerated, and may only represent a cosmetic issue. Some nail toxic effects, however, can be functionally debilitating and may represent one of the most burdensome adverse events in cancer patients. Preventive counseling should be systematically provided. Finally, proactive management is required for taxane-related onycholysis or targeted therapy-related paronychia. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. |
