Anticancer
drug-induced
stomatitis develops in 30% to 40% of
cancer patients undergoing
chemotherapy. However, medications for this condition are not commercially available in Japan. The "hospital formulation" is a customized medicine which hospital pharmacists prepare when doctors cannot carry out the medical
therapy most suitable for a patient using commercial medicines. However, as the duties of pharmacists increase, use of the "hospital fomulation" decreases. Therefore, development of "hospital fomulations" based on individual evidence has a limit.
Irsogladine maleate (IM) is a
drug with gastric mucosal protective properties. IM increases intracellular cAMP levels in the gastric mucosa and activates communication between cells. It has been reported that the
oral administration of IM reduces the incidence of 5-FU-based
chemotherapy-induced
stomatitis. However, there have been no reports on the effect of the direct use of IM in treating
stomatitis. Therefore, we studied the development of an IM
oral spray for
stomatitis treatment, and obtained evidence of a direct effect in an animal experiment using a
stomatitis model. Next,
rebamipide mouthwash was administered to patients who had
stomatitis caused by
cancer chemotherapy. The total scores were classified into Grades 0 to 4 and evaluated as a
stomatitis evaluation score (SES). When comparing SES and changes in the
stomatitis area in patients, gradual reductions in the extent of
stomatitis were observed, even during the period when SES did not change. Having patients fill in an observation chart was effective for grasping changes in symptoms in outpatients.