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ObjectivesThis retrospective study examined how a pharmacist-involved education program in a multidisciplinary team (PEMT) for oral mucositis (OM) affected head-and-neck cancer (HNC) patients receiving concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT).Materials and methodsTotal samples data of 53 patients during the stipulated timeframe were retrospectively collected from electronic medical records from February 2017 to January 2019. We compared the presence/absence of OM (OM: yes/no) between patients with and without PEMT (PEMT: yes/no) as the primary endpoint and OM severity as the secondary endpoint. The following information was surveyed: age, gender, weight loss, steroid or immunosuppressant use, hematological values (albumin, white blood cell count, blood platelets, and neutrophils), cancer grade, primary cancer site, type and use of mouthwash and moisturizer, opioid use (yes/no, days until the start of opioid use, and dose, switch to tape), and length of hospital day (LOD). The two groups were compared using Fisher's exact test for qualitative data and the Mann-Whitney U test for quantitative data, and a significance level of pResultsThe group managed by PEMT had significantly lower weight loss and a significantly lower incidence of local anesthetic and opioid use and switch to tape compared with the group not managed by PEMT (pConclusionsOur results showed that PEMT did not improve OM (yes/no) or OM severity in HNC patients undergoing CCRT. However, the PEMT group had a lower incidence of grades 3 and 4 OM than the non-PEMT group, although not significantly. In addition, PEMT contributed to oral pain relief and the lowering of the risk for OM by reduction in weight loss.

Susceptibility to γ-ray induction of thymic lymphomas in mouse strains is controlled by low-penetrance genetic variant alleles. Our previous genome-wide scan of a mouse backcross between BALB/c and MSM strains suggested the existence of a BALB/c resistance locus near D5Mit5 on chromosome 5. To confirm this resistance, we produced congenic mice carrying a 28.4 cM region between D5Mit4 and D5Mit315 from the MSM parental strain on the BALB/c background. Lymphomas were induced in their progeny by γ-ray irradiation or administration of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU), an alkylating agent. The incidence of radiogenic lymphomas was 87.5% in mice of the M/M genotype at D5Mit7, significantly higher than the 46% incidence in mice of the C/M genotype, indicating highly significant linkage between the locus and the resistance (P = 0.000054). In contrast, the frequencies of MNU-induced thymic lymphomas were similar between the two genotypes (P = 0.35 in χ2 test). These results confirm the presence of a resistance allele for γ-ray induction of thymic lymphomas near the D5Mit7 locus and strongly suggest that this locus modifies carcinogenic risk from exposure to radiation but not to alkylating agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]