A phase III study on the concurrent use of oral pilocarpine to reduce hyposalivation and mucositis associated with radiation therapy in head and neck cancer patients. Final results of RTOG 97-09

Radiation‐induced Xerostomia in patients with head and neck cancer: Pathogenesis, impact on quality of life, and management

“…Preliminary data from a randomized RTOG study suggest some improvement in objective saliva measurements in patients receiving pilocarpine during radiation compared with patients receiving placebo. However, there were no differences in patients' perception of their xerostomia when patients receiving active drug were compared with the placebo control arm 59. Warde and colleagues60 from Canada revealed in a smaller phase III trial that there was no beneficial effect of pilocarpine on radiation‐induced xerostomia when administered during RT for patients with head and neck cancer.…”

Evaluation, prevention and management of radiotherapy-induced xerostomia in head and neck cancer patients

“…Patients were eligible if diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity or oropharynx and 50% of the volume of major salivary glands was planned to receive at least 50 Gy. Salivary function at 3 and 6 months was better in those patients treated with pilocarpine for unstimulated salivary flow (P ¼ 0.047 and P ¼ 0.093, respectively), than in those treated with placebo [30]. QoL data, however, revealed that pilocarpine did not positively impact on QoL outcomes, in comparison with placebo, both assessed at 3 and 6 months, in all studied domains [31].…”

IMRT Treatment for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (NPC) Is Superior for Relieving Xerostomia, Improving Quality of Life and Protecting the Parotid Glands

“…The XQ chosen in this study was the same as one used in a larger, prospective longitudinal study (23). The University of Washington QoL instruments, which have been widely employed in other reports, were used in this study to determine the differences between the two RT treatment strategies (22,24,25). In our study, the XQ and QoL scores were self-rated by the NPC patients to compare the differences between the 3D-CRT and IMRT treatments.…”