{"entity":{"id":"idea-moon-mucositis-taste-programme","kind":"idea","name":"Photobiomodulation and a taste and swallowing programme for mouth and throat toxicity","aka":[],"tldr":"Mouth ulcers and loss of taste from chemo and radiotherapy stop people eating. Low-level light therapy and structured swallowing and taste rehabilitation can help; make them standard.","summary":"Oral mucositis affects most patients receiving head and neck radiotherapy and many on intensive chemotherapy; photobiomodulation (low-level laser) is recommended by MASCC/ISOO for prevention in defined settings but is rarely available. Taste alteration and dysphagia are under-treated and drive malnutrition. The proposal is a bundled programme: photobiomodulation in eligible patients, prophylactic swallowing exercises, dietetic taste rehabilitation, and standard PRO measurement, implemented in radiotherapy and transplant units.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued): Di Maio et al., Symptomatic toxicities experienced during anticancer treatment: agreement between patient and physician reporting (JCO 2015)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2014.57.9334"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["head-and-neck"],"sections":[],"technologies":["imrt-igrt","photobiomodulation-mucositis"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-toxicity-qol"],"keyPapers":["paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"The bundle reduces severe mucositis by a third, reduces feeding tube dependence at six months, and improves weight maintenance during head and neck radiotherapy.","rationale":"Each component has randomised support; delivery as a bundle with measurement is the missing piece.","test":"Cluster-randomised implementation across radiotherapy units; primary endpoint severe mucositis incidence and feeding tube dependence at six months.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"research","cost":"small","horizonYears":3},"route":"/ideas/idea-moon-mucositis-taste-programme/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"head-and-neck","kind":"cancer","name":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/head-and-neck/"}],"technology":[{"id":"dry-mouth-teeth-after-head-neck-radiotherapy","kind":"technology","name":"Dry mouth, teeth and taste after head and neck radiotherapy","route":"/technologies/dry-mouth-teeth-after-head-neck-radiotherapy/"},{"id":"imrt-igrt","kind":"technology","name":"IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam)","route":"/technologies/imrt-igrt/"},{"id":"photobiomodulation-mucositis","kind":"technology","name":"Photobiomodulation (low-level laser) for oral mucositis","route":"/technologies/photobiomodulation-mucositis/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-toxicity-qol","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued","route":"/bottlenecks/b-toxicity-qol/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol","kind":"paper","name":"Symptomatic toxicities experienced during anticancer treatment: agreement between patient and physician reporting in three randomized trials","route":"/key-papers/paper-di-maio-j-clin-oncol/"}]}}