ABSTRACT
Objective@# To investigate the diagnosis and treatment for oral mucositis induced by low-dose methotrexate and to provide a reference for clinicians@*Methods @# A case of severe chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis caused by short-term use of low-dose methotrexate (the maximum cumulative dose within 1 week) was reported and reviewed in combination with the literature.@*Results@# The patient was treated with low-dose methotrexate (2.5 mg orally every other day at weeks 1, 2, and 4; the third week, 2.5 mg each time for 3 consecutive days for twice, with a maximum cumulativedose of 15 mg within a week). After irregular medication for approximately three weeks, the patient gradually developed severe erosion of the lips, pain, difficulty eating, and skin erosion on both legs. Methotrexate was stopped after admission, and local symptomatic treatments such as Kangfuxin solution were given. Recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor was used systemically when combined with neutropenia. After treatment, the chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis and skin lesions were improved. A literature review shows that chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis is a toxic reaction to high-dose methotrexate, while cases of severe chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis caused by low-dose methotrexate are rare. Studies have found that the more risk factors patients have, such as poor local oral conditions and systemic diseases such as liver and kidney dysfunction and diabetes, the higher the risk of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. Clinicians should cooperate with dentists to address oral diseases as much as possible before using chemotherapy drugs. In addition, when ordering patients to take methotrexate, we should pay attention to the patient's general condition and susceptibility factors, standardize the frequency and dose of administration, adopt personalized treatment plans, and give patients detailed medication education to prevent the occurrence of adverse consequences caused by medication errors. If methotrexate poisoning occurs, the drug should be stopped in time, detoxification and active symptomatic and supportive treatment should be given. Basic oral care, cryotherapy, laser therapy, nutritional support and analgesic drugs are common treatments for chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. Systemic administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor may be considered when accompanied by neutropenia.@*Conclusion@# It is necessary to be alert to the occurrence of severe chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis caused by low-dose methotrexate in clinical practice.
ABSTRACT
@#Radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis is a common oral complication in tumor patients undergoing radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, which seriously compromises patients’ quality of life and even affects anti-tumor treatment. Biomarkers are signal indicators that appear at different biological levels before or during disease. A comprehensive understanding of the biomarkers associated with oral mucositis contributes to the early identification of high-risk patients with oral mucositis and aids in the screening of patients prone to develop severe oral mucositis, guiding the prevention and treatment of oral mucositis. This article reviews the existing biomarkers associated with oral mucositis. The literature review results showed that the biomarkers associated with oral mucositis included growth factors, inflammatory cytokines, genes, plasma antioxidants, and pro-apoptotic proteins/inhibitor of apoptosis proteins. These biomarkers can be used to predict the risk of oral mucositis or facilitate early discrimination of patients prone to exhibit severe radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis. EGF, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β and CRP can be used to predict and evaluate the risk and development of oral mucositis, whereas genes such as excision repair cross complementing 1(ERCC1), X-ray repair cross complementing 1(XRCC1), methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 1A (TNFRSF1A) have been focus of research in recent years. The genotypes and expression levels of some of these genes exhibit variable capacities to predict the risk and severity of oral mucositis. However, no biomarkers have been used in clinical practice, and more studies are needed in the future to verify the reliability and accuracy of these biomarkers, to provide a reference for the early accurate prevention and treatment of radiation and chemotherapy oral mucositis.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#To translate the Children′s International Mucositis Evaluation Scale (ChIMES) into Chinese and evaluate its psychometric charateristics in pediatric patients with acute leukemia.@*Methods@#After translation and cognitive debriefing interviews, convenience sampling was used to recruit 105 pediatric patients with acute leukemia in a Shanghai AAA pediatric hospital.@*Results@#The known-group validity was great, and criterion validity was 0.947. Through EFA, the Chinese version of ChIMES included two dimensions which accounted for 75.270% of the accumulated variance, and each item had high factor loading quantity (>0.5). Cronbach alpha was 0.826 and the split-half reliability was 0.590. Relevance between each item and total score was good, with Pearson correlation coefficient 0.424-0.900.@*Conclusion@#The Chinese version of ChIMES has been proved valid and reliable and can be practically and feasibly used in the future.