scispace - formally typeset
Journal ArticleDOI

A systematic review of salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia induced by cancer therapies: prevalence, severity and impact on quality of life

TLDR
Salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia are induced by radiotherapy in the head and neck region depending on the cumulative radiation dose to the gland tissue, and treatment focus should be on optimized/new approaches to further reduce the doses to the parotids.
Abstract
This systematic review aimed to assess the literature for prevalence, severity, and impact on quality of life of salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia induced by cancer therapies. The electronic databases of MEDLINE/PubMed and EMBASE were searched for articles published in English since the 1989 NIH Development Consensus Conference on the Oral Complications of Cancer Therapies until 2008 inclusive. Two independent reviewers extracted information regarding study design, study population, interventions, outcome measures, results and conclusions for each article. The inclusion criteria were met by 184 articles covering salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia induced by conventional, 3D conformal radiotherapy or intensity-modulated radiotherapy in head and neck cancer patients, cancer chemotherapy, total body irradiation/hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, radioactive iodine treatment, and immunotherapy. Salivary gland hypofunction and xerostomia are induced by radiotherapy in the head and neck region depending on the cumulative radiation dose to the gland tissue. Treatment focus should be on optimized/new approaches to further reduce the dose to the parotids, and particularly submandibular and minor salivary glands, as these glands are major contributors to moistening of oral tissues. Other cancer treatments also induce salivary gland hypofunction, although to a lesser severity, and in the case of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, the adverse effect is temporary. Fields of sparse literature included pediatric cancer populations, cancer chemotherapy, radioactive iodine treatment, total body irradiation/hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and immunotherapy.

read more

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Salivary secretion in health and disease.

TL;DR: How various diseases and medical treatment including commonly prescribed medications and cancer therapies can affect salivary gland structure and function is focused on.

Enabling health care decisionmaking through clinical decision support and knowledge management

TL;DR: Strong evidence shows that CDSSs/KMSs are effective in improving health care process measures across diverse settings using both commercially and locally developed systems.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Dose, volume, and function relationships in parotid salivary glands following conformal and intensity-modulated irradiation of head and neck cancer

TL;DR: Dose/volume/function relationships in the parotid glands are characterized by dose and volume thresholds, steep dose/response relationships when the thresholds are reached, and a maximal volume dependence parameter in the NTCP model.
Journal ArticleDOI

Final Results of the 94–01 French Head and Neck Oncology and Radiotherapy Group Randomized Trial Comparing Radiotherapy Alone With Concomitant Radiochemotherapy in Advanced-Stage Oropharynx Carcinoma

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report the 5-year survival and late toxicity results of a randomized clinical trial, which showed a 3-year improvement in overall survival and locoregional control of stage III or IV oropharynx carcinoma, using concomitant radiochemotherapy (arm B), compared with standard radiotherapy (ARM A).
Journal ArticleDOI

Oral Sequelae of Head and Neck Radiotherapy

TL;DR: In this review, the radiation-induced changes in healthy oral tissues and the resulting clinical consequences are discussed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Xerostomia and its predictors following parotid-sparing irradiation of head-and-neck cancer

TL;DR: An improvement over time in xerostomia, occurring in tandem with rising salivary production from the spared major Salivary glands, suggests a long-term clinical benefit from their sparing.
Journal ArticleDOI

Xerostomia and quality of life after intensity-modulated radiotherapy vs. conventional radiotherapy for early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma: initial report on a randomized controlled clinical trial.

TL;DR: IMRT was significantly better than CRT in terms of parotid sparing and improved QoL for early-stage disease and support the case for assessment of health-relatedQoL in relation to head-and-neck cancer using a site-specific approach.
Related Papers (5)