Preventing radiation induced xerostomia

Radiation induced xerostomia is a frequent consequence of radiotherapy (RT) for head–neck cancer (HNC) patients, when parotid glands are included in the radiation fields. Although early appearing xerostomia may be alleviated with the use of pilocarpine, persistent chronic xerostomia affects more tha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cancer treatment reviews 2005-11, Vol.31 (7), p.546-554
Main Authors: Koukourakis, Michael I., Danielidis, Vassilios
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amifostine
Head and Neck Neoplasms - radiotherapy
Head–neck cancer
Humans
IMRT
Incidence
Muscarinic Agonists - therapeutic use
Pilocarpine - therapeutic use
Quality of Life
Radiation Injuries - etiology
Radiation Injuries - prevention & control
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy - adverse effects
Severity of Illness Index
Xerostomia - etiology
Xerostomia - prevention & control
Xersotomia
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Radiation induced xerostomia is a frequent consequence of radiotherapy (RT) for head–neck cancer (HNC) patients, when parotid glands are included in the radiation fields. Although early appearing xerostomia may be alleviated with the use of pilocarpine, persistent chronic xerostomia affects more than 70% of HNC patients treated with post-operative or radical radiotherapy and significantly impairs the quality of life potentially cured patients. The present manuscript reviews and discusses the current technological (conformal and intensity modulated RT) and pharmacological (amifostine) developments aiming to prevent the severity and reduce incidence of both acute and late radiation xerostomia in patients with HNC.
ISSN:0305-7372
1532-1967
DOI:10.1016/j.ctrv.2005.07.006