Oral mucositis in cancer patients: the effect of oral supplementation

shutterstock_74662099 zinc

This review of of the effects of oral supplementation on the prevention and/or treatment of oral mucositis in patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy included 12 RCTs and suggest that Zinc supplements may be beneficial.

[read the full story...]

Dental visits and head and neck cancer

shutterstock_17187229

This review of a link between past dental visits/check-ups and the incidence cancers of head and neck includes 38 studies the majority of which are case-controlled studies. The findings suggest that those are irregular of never attenders are more likely to have head and neck cancer.

[read the full story...]

Mouth and throat cancer: evidence for best surgical approaches uncertain

Bariatric surgery and marked weight loss is likely to improve knee complaints but there is a need for high quality studies

12 RCTs were included in this Cochrane review update of surgical approches for the management of oral and pharyngeal cancer. The certaintly of the evidence was very low as there were limited numbers of studies for each comparison.

[read the full story...]

Mucositis in adult cancer patients reduced with keratinocyte growth factor

PDB_1qql_EBI

This Cochrane review of cytokines and growth factors for preventing oral mucositis in patients having cancer treatment included 35 RCTs finding keratinocyte growth factor beneficial in the prevention of oral mucositis .

[read the full story...]

Drugs to prevent salivary gland damage following radiotherapy to the head and neck

This Cochrane review of drugs for the prevention of radiation-induced salivary gland dysfunction included 39 studies, while a range of agents was tested the evidence found is not sufficient to highlight much promise in terms of effective preventative treatments.

[read the full story...]

Extra-oral implants: barclips versus magnets

The study highlighted a lack of evidence about what CMHT services work for older people.

Mark Steven Howe considers this review of extra-oral implant retention. 12 mainly retrospective studies were included providing limited data from which to drawn conclusions regarding the best retention system.

[read the full story...]

Oral mucositis in cancer patients: no benefit from chlorhexidine mouthwash

shutterstock_20760106 - mouthwash

This review of chlorhexidine (CHX) for prevention & treatment of oral mucositis included 12 RCTs with 9 contribution to the meta-analysis. CHX was not significantly effective in preventing mucositis or reducing its severity.

[read the full story...]

Oral Mucositis: can honey reduce its severity?

honey-1089508_1920

This review of the use of honey to educe the severity of radio/chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis identified 7 low quality RCTs that suggest that use of honey may reduce the severity of oral mucositis.

[read the full story...]

Marijuana use and head and neck cancer risk #CannabisMatters

Cannabis

9 case-controlled studies were included in this review of the effect of marijuana use on head and neck cancer. The findings suggest no association marijuana use and head and neck cancer but other reviews suggest that this may differ by tumour site

[read the full story...]

Smoking cessation interventions for head and neck cancer patients

Crushing cigarette packet

This review of smoking cessation for patients with head and neck cancer included 8 studies ( 3 RCTs) and suggests that those receiving counseling had a 26% higher quit rate than with controls

[read the full story...]