An oral gel containing the anesthetic tetracaine reduces mouth soreness caused by radiation treatment for cancer of the head and neck, according to results of a study.

Mouth inflammation and sores, or mucositis, are a common and serious side effect of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients. Mucositis can lead to problems with drinking and eating, as well as infection.

Dr. Daniela Alterio, from the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, and colleagues in Italy developed a tetracaine gel to be applied to the oral mucosa about 30 minutes before and after meals and tested it in 50 individuals with mucositis. The subjects completed questionnaires after using the gel for 1 week.

Only 10 patients (21 percent) reported that they obtained no pain relief from the gel, while 13 (27 percent) reported Grade 4 (the highest grade of pain relief), Alterio and colleagues report in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics.

Eighty percent also reported that there was no disagreeable taste associated with the treatment, and 54 percent reported no alteration in the taste of their meals.

Seven patients (17 percent) reported slight burning, but this disappeared slowly after the gel was administered. Only one patient discontinued use of the gel because of the oral burning.

“In our opinion,” the authors conclude, “local application of anesthetic agents should be encouraged, but larger prospective randomized trials are required to confirm these data.”

SOURCE: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics February 1, 2006.