Cryotherapy in the Prevention of Chemotherapy-Induced Mucositis in Stem Cell Transplant
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
0000-00-00
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Oral mucositis is a common complication of cancer therapy. Mucositis results from damage to
the mucosal epithelium after delivery of chemotherapy or radiation treatments designed to
treat the cancer. A number of treatment factors have been shown to influence the incidence
and severity of mucositis, including chemotherapy type and dosage. High-dose chemotherapy
before stem cell transplantation can cause severe oral mucositis and is often the side
effect that patients find the most difficult to endure. Cryotherapy, keeping ice chips in
the mouth during chemotherapy infusion, has been shown to prevent or alleviate mucositis
caused by high-dose melphalan alone or given in combinations used in pre-transplant
conditioning. One other drug notorious for causing severe mucositis is etoposide (VP-16).
The specific aims of the study are: 1) to assess tolerability of cryotherapy given during
chemotherapy administration; 2) to determine the efficacy of cryotherapy in reducing
etoposide-induced mucositis.