NCT01898091

Herbal Mouthrinse for Oral Mucositis Study

Randomized Controlled Double-blinded Clinical Trial of an Herbal Mouthrinse for Radiotherapy Induced Mucositis in Cancer Patients

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 50 (actual)
• Sponsor: Medical University of South Carolina · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 89 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study involves adults receiving radiation therapy for head and neck cancer and will test whether or not the study mouthrinse may lessen oral mucositis.

Detailed description

The broad goal of our research is development of an effective Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) approach to prevent mucositis or lessen its severity and complications. Oral mucositis (OM) is a clinically challenging and debilitating side effect of conventional radiotherapy (RT), affecting almost all patients undergoing RT for head and neck cancer. OM includes inflammation of the oral mucosa with or without opportunistic microbial infection. It ranges from mild erythema to severe ulceration accompanied by persistent pain leading to inability to tolerate or swallow food and fluids. OM frequently causes unwanted cancer treatment dose reductions or breaks in therapy. Despite use of pain medications, severe OM is associated with substantially increased use of costly health care resources. Presently, there are no effective treatments for OM. The primary aim of the current proposal is to determine whether or not a mouthrinse containing an herbal extract with known anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial medicinal properties, will reduce the severity of oral mucositis in cancer patients undergoing conventional radiotherapy to the head and neck. Because of the prominent inflammatory and microbial aspects of OM we anticipate that the herbal mouthrinse will reduce the severity of the pain and secondary infections associated with OM, and will improve the quality of life in head and neck cancer patients undergoing RT. Therefore, the specific aims of our Phase II double-blind, randomized, controlled trial are 1) to determine if the severity of oral mucositis is reduced in RT patients receiving the herbal mouthrinse compared to patients receiving the comparison mouthrinse and 2) to determine the effects of the herbal mouthrinse on the microbial environment of the oral cavity and on quality of life. Findings from this study will provide evidence to support more in-depth biological assessment of the anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial mechanisms by which the herbal extract reduces oral mucositis, and additional study in other populations experiencing mucositis.

Conditions

• Oral Mucositis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Neem Mouthrinse	10ml dose of assigned study mouthrinse, three times per day, for approximately 7 weeks during radiation therapy.
DRUG	Placebo Mouthrinse	10ml dose of assigned study mouthrinse, three times per day, for approximately 7 weeks during radiation therapy.

Timeline

• Start date: 2013-07-01
• Primary completion: 2015-04-01
• Completion: 2015-06-01
• First posted: 2013-07-12
• Last updated: 2017-03-06
• Results posted: 2017-03-06

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States