[Current approaches in prevention and therapy of chemo- and radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis]

Oral mucositis is a major, often dose-limiting toxicity in modern cancer-therapy, leading to dose reductions or delay in further cancer treatment. It predisposes to life-threatening septic complication during aplasia and substantially reduces quality of life for cancer patients. At present the basic strategies in oral mucositis aim at pain relief and prevention of infectious complications. However, no effective causal prophylaxis or treatment of oral mucositis is widely accepted. The introduction of cytokines, e.g. granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), the use of cytoprotective agents, e.g. amifostine and the stimulation of basal-cell proliferation by soft-laser irradiation or silver nitrate offer new and hopeful approaches in oral mucositis. Large-scale clinical trials to confirm effectiveness and optimize treatment schedules have to be done.