FRIDAY, Feb. 25 (HealthDay News) -- Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are receptive to performing skin self-examinations (SSE) and acting on recommendations from an education intervention when they discover a concerning skin lesion, according to a study published online Feb. 21 in the Archives of Dermatology.
June K. Robinson, M.D., from Northwestern University in Chicago, and colleagues aimed to develop educational materials that could easily be distributed to promote SSE among KTRs. Seventy-five KTRs who were returning to their nephrologists for routine care either one to 1.2 years or three to seven years after transplantation were randomly assigned to receive educational intervention or routine assessment, education, and treatment from their nephrologists. The primary outcome was SSE performance and, if a lesion was found, making an appointment with a dermatologist.
The researchers found that KTRs were significantly more likely to perform SSE after receiving educational material; 89 percent of those receiving the educational intervention checked their skin compared to 22 percent of the control group. Eight control KTRs checked their skin, and none of them found anything of concern; whereas, of the 34 intervention KTRs who checked their skin, 35 percent found areas of concern, and all of them made follow-up appointments with a dermatologist.
"The educational intervention effectively increased awareness of the KTRs' risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma and provided sufficient training to enhance self-efficacy in their ability to detect an area of concern," the authors write.
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