Of the 1.2 million Americans diagnosed with cancer each year, approximately 400,000 will develop oral complications from their treatments. Many patients, dentists, and oncologists, however, are unaware of the right steps to take to prevent or manage these potentially serious problems. The goals of the campaign are to inform oncology and oral health professionals about the oral complications of cancer treatment, to encourage communication between oncology and oral health care providers, and to give patients the tools they need to be active participants in their cancer care. Oral complications can result from all forms of cancer treatment, including radiation to the head and neck, chemotherapy for any type of cancer, and bone marrow transplantation. Oral side effects may be acute, or they may last a lifetime.
Oral complications can affect cancer treatment as well.
These conditions can be so debilitating that patients may tolerate only lower, less effective doses of anticancer drugs, may postpone scheduled treatments, or may discontinue treatment entirely. Oral side effects can also be the source of systemic infections that may interfere with cancer therapy and even threaten patient survival. The committee was more divided on which of those patients would best benefit from dofetilide. The panel was concerned that dofetilide's tendency to lengthen QT intervals, especially as the dose was increased, might cause torsades de pointes. That arrhythmia was seen in more patients on dofetilide than placebo or active control.