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Published on: December 18, 2014
Beta-blockers for tenacious saliva: a case report
Myles J Woodman1, Paul Howard2,3
1Department of General Medicine, St Mary's Hospital, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK.
Abstract:
This case report describes the care of a 75-year-old gentleman with metastatic head and neck cancer who was highly symptomatic with intractable tenacious oropharyngeal secretions. The patient reported subjective benefit from oral atenolol. A literature review was undertaken and identified no previous studies on the use of β-blockers for secretions in malignant disease, although some anecdotal evidence for their use in motor neuron disease. The proposed underlying mechanism is that β1-blockade reduced the protein content of salivary secretions, hence reducing its viscosity. Further studies of both the role of β-adrenoreceptors in the control of secretion viscosity and the potential role of β-blockers in alleviating symptomatic tenacious secretions are warranted.
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