Managing Oral Mucositis in Patients With Cancer

Patients with oral mucositis (OM) have inflamed epithelial lesions of the mouth that progress to form painful ulcerations with submucosal hemorrhaging and infection. Oral mucositis makes it painful to eat, drink, and speak, resulting in distress, weight loss, and declining health. These symptoms occur in up to 40% of patients within 5 to 10 days after beginning chemotherapy (CT), and in nearly all patients within 1 to 2 weeks of starting radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck cancer. Oral mucositis can be severe enough to interrupt treatment and reduce survival rates. In 2014, the Mucositis Guidelines Leadership Group of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer and International Society of Oral Oncology released OM treatment guidelines aiming to provide nutritional support, while reducing pain, inflammation, hemorrhaging, and oral microbial contamination. This installment of Evidence Corner explores 2 recent systematic reviews of randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence informing clinical decisions in ways that may change thoughts about effective topical OM treatment.