Evaluation of patient management of (radio-)chemotherapy-caused mucositis with the goal of enhancing patient treatment

TL;DR

This study examines how well cancer patients in Germany are informed about and manage mucositis, a common side effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Contribution

The study evaluates patient awareness and use of guideline-recommended measures for managing mucositis in cancer treatment.

Findings

Only 61.6% of patients were informed about mucositis as a possible side effect by their physician.

Mouth rinse was the most frequently recommended measure, but dental consultations were rarely advised.

Patient education and interdisciplinary cooperation need improvement to better manage mucositis.

Abstract

OM is a very relevant and sometimes therapy-limiting side effect of CT/RCT. There are prophylactic and therapeutic measures available that should be recommended to all patients. This study investigated how patients were informed about oral mucositis (OM) as possible side effect of CT/RCT, how well they knew about available prophylactic and therapeutic measures from the clinical guidelines and to what extent they applied these.

A standardized questionnaire on information and usage of prophylactic and therapeutic measures and patient-relevant outcomes based on the German S3 Guideline was distributed among patients in German cancer departments.

Only 61.6% of 114 patients were informed about OM as possible side effect by their physician and 53.2% had complaints caused by OM. An insufficient number of patients were recommended to apply prophylactic and therapeutic measures. 63.5% of the patients felt well-informed about treatment options. The most frequently recommended measure was mouth rinse (50%). Only 17.6% of patients were advised to visit a dentist.

The measures proposed in the German S3 guideline were insufficiently recommended. To improve patient education and the quality of care, more intensive use should be made of information flyers, training of nursing staff and greater interdisciplinary cooperation. If treatment-associated OM is to be expected, dental consultations should be firmly integrated into treatment planning.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00432-025-06238-2.

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