Abstract
Mucositis is an inflammatory reaction of the mucosa of the alimentary tract (AT) caused by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted therapy for cancer. It presents a significant burden not only to patient quality of life but also may result in diminished tumor control (through dose reductions) and increased treatment costs (due to extended hospital stays and supportive care). Mucositis symptoms may vary not only due to the treatment modality but also according to genetic predispositions of the patient toward developing toxicity (toxicogenomics). Management of mucositis is at present supportive only, with treatments that reduce incidence, severity, and duration of clinical symptoms, but do not prevent or cure mucositis altogether. A great deal of current research into the mechanisms involved in development and progression of mucositis is also being carried out; it is hoped that a clear understanding of mucositis pathophysiology, along with comprehensive toxicogenomics, will enable more preventative treatments to be developed.
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- 5-FU:
-
5-fluorouracil
- AT:
-
alimentary tract
- BF:
-
Bayes factor
- CAM:
-
complementary and alternative medicine
- CT:
-
chemotherapy
- GI:
-
gastrointestinal
- GLP:
-
glucagon-like peptide
- H2BT:
-
hydrogen breath test
- HSCT:
-
hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
- IL:
-
interleukin
- LIL:
-
low-intensity laser
- LLLT:
-
low-level laser therapy
- MASCC/ISOO:
-
Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology
- mAb:
-
monoclonal antibody
- MMPs:
-
matrix metalloproteases
- mTOR:
-
mechanistic target of rapamycin
- NCI-CTCAE:
-
National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events
- NF-κB:
-
nuclear factor kappa B
- OM:
-
oral mucositis
- PRO:
-
patient-reported outcome
- QOL:
-
quality of life
- RCT:
-
randomized controlled trial
- RT:
-
radiotherapy
- SBS:
-
short bowel syndrome
- SBT:
-
13C-sucrose breath test
- TAT:
-
targeted anticancer therapy
- TBI:
-
total body irradiation
- TKI:
-
tyrosine kinase inhibitor
- TLR:
-
toll-like receptor
- TNF:
-
tumour necrosis factor
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
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Bateman, E., Logan, R., Gibson, R., Keefe, D. (2019). Mucositis. In: MacLeod, R., Van den Block, L. (eds) Textbook of Palliative Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77740-5_17
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