The solution
Oncologists involved in OM management and patients who had developed OM during cancer treatment were recruited from seven countries across Asia. Oncologists completed a face-to-face, quantitative interview and patients completed a face-to-face interview and a self-reported questionnaire. The aim of the research was to assess the level of concordance between the perspectives of oncologists and those of patients regarding OM symptoms, and the impact of OM on various aspects of daily living and concurrent cancer management.
The outputs
The study found that Oncologists and patients ranked treatment-induced OM among the three most important toxicities of cancer therapy requiring intervention. But while oncologists’ concerns related to the delays and interruptions of cancer treatment, patients tended to focus on the effects of OM on eating, drinking, and talking. Findings from the study were published in the ‘Supportive Care in Cancer’ journal which provides members of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC) and other interested parties with the most recent scientific and social information on all aspects of supportive care in cancer patients.