Cancer treatment-related xerostomia: basics, therapeutics, and future perspectives

Abstract

Abstract Xerostomia, generally addressed as dry mouth, poses significant challenges to patients’ quality of life, particularly in the context of cancer treatment. Although various medications and interventions, including salivary substitutes and stimulants, muscarinic agonists, antineoplastic detoxifying agents, anti-inflammatory agents, superoxide dismutase mimetics, mesenchymal stem cells, submandibular gland transfer, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, dose fractionation, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, photobiomodulation, acupuncture, and nutritional interventions, have been proposed for this condition, no approved or definite treatments are currently available. Moreover, the evidence supporting the efficacy of proposed interventions remains limited and subject to controversy in terms of safety, efficacy, and optimal protocol. This review provides a comprehensive insight into cancer treatment-related xerostomia, underlying its pathophysiology, etiology, clinical manifestation, and therapeutic options, providing a clinical guide for clinicians to adopt a patient-tailored approach to cancer treatment-related xerostomia and offering vision on current ongoing and future studies in the field.

Keywords

• Cancer-related salivary dysfunction
• Cancer treatment-associated xerostomia
• Head and neck cancer
• Muscarinic agonists
• Palliative care
• Radiotherapy