Oral Pain Associated with Cancer Therapy, a Pain Medicine Perspective

Abstract

Cancer therapy-induced oral mucositis (CTIOM) can cause intolerable oral pain resulting in difficulty in chewing, swallowing and speaking. Thus, leading to patients requiring aggressive measures, such as parenteral feeding, the placement of gastric feeding tubes and discontinuation of oncologic treatments. Although, pain is the debilitating symptom, current efforts seem to focus independently in the histological damage, not in pain and symptom care. Current strategies for managing pain from CTIOM entail maintaining oral hygiene and the use of oral rinses, topical anesthetics, prophylactic antimicrobials and systemic analgesics such as opioids. Novel therapies, such as methylene blue oral rinse, are being investigated, with positive outcomes. Therefore, there is a need to identify treatment modalities for pain of CTIOM. Ideally, this should be noninvasive, safe and cost-effective, while providing sustained analgesia.

Keywords::

• cancer therapy-induced oral mucositis
• oral pain

Authors’ contributions

Authors had full access to all the data in the study and took responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. C J Roldan visualized the idea of this review, performed the data collection and initiated the sketch of the manuscript. T Chai, J Erian and J Welker, reviewed and summarized the data, managed the literature searches and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. C J Roldan provided revision for intellectual content and final approval of the manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.