Oral Mucositis

 A mouthwash consisting of diphenhydramine, lidocaine and antacids significantly reduced pain from oral mucositis among patients receiving radiation for head and neck cancer, according to results of a randomized phase 3 trial published in JAMA. “Radiation therapy may cause mouth sores because it is designed to kill rapidly growing cells, such as cancer cells,” Terence Tai-Weng Sio, MD, MS, assistant professor of radiation oncology and radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, said in a press release. “Unfortunately, healthy cells in the mouth also divide and grow rapidly, and may be damaged during radiation therapy, which can cause discomfort. We are glad to have identified a proven method to help treat the discomfort of this side effect.” Sio and colleagues evaluated 275 patients (mean age, 61 years; 21% women) who underwent radiotherapy for head and neck cancer and had an oral mucositis pain score of 4 points or higher on a scale of 0 to 10. The researchers randomly assign...

The term mucositis is coined to describe the adverse effects of radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Mucositis is one of the most common adverse reactions encountered in radiation therapy for head and neck cancers, as well as in chemotherapy, in particular with drugs affecting DNA synthesis (Sphase-specific agents such as fluorouracil, methotrexate, and cytarabine). Mucositis may limit the patient's ability to tolerate chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and nutritional status is compromised. It may drastically affect cancer treatment as well as the patient's quality of life. The incidence and severity of mucositis will vary from patient to patient.  It will also vary from treatment to treatment. It is estimated that there is 40% incidence of mucositis in patients treated with standard chemotherapy and this will not only increase with the number of treatment cycles but also with previous episodes. Similarly, patients who undergo bone marrow transplantation and who receive high...

  Our mouth is an important organ and an integral part of our digestive system. Oral health is fundamental to systemic-well being of our body. However, Mucositis is a common condition that affect cancer patients receiving radiation or chemotherapy. Mucositis treatment is a big challenge for doctors and caregivers.  What is Mucositis? Mucositis is commonly described as the inflammation of the mucosal layer of the lining of the gastro-intestinal tract.  Mucositis condition occurs as oral mucositis and esophagitis. There are many treatments of Oral Mucositis and Esophagitis for temporary and long-term relief, but depending upon the severity of the Oral Mucositis a treatment is followed.  What is a Mucosal layer? Mucosa is the outer layer of membrane that lines our gastro-intestinal tract including mouth, throat, oesophagus, and stomach. The mucosal membrane lining our mouth, or the oral cavity is called Oral Mucosa. Oral Mucosal layer performs several functions for our...