As a pediatric oncologist, Dr. Peter Anderson long ago noticed that, when children are diagnosed with cancer, parents often ask what foods or supplements will help during treatment. That got him thinking. And he realized it’s not so much about what to eat as it is about being able to eat. It’s often difficult for cancer patients to eat because of mouth sores.
Also called mucositis, this inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth and digestive tract is a common and painful side effect of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. And it’s a major reason why cancer patients don’t get all the nutrition they need. Anderson started working on the problem in the early ’90s. And this fall, the Carolinas HealthCare System physician announced his solution to the world at an international medical conference in Toronto.
It’s not a drug or a food. It’s a special mouthwash called Healios.Developed by Anderson with multiple collaborators, Healios has been shown to minimize mouth sores and enable patients to eat enough to keep up their strength. Anderson’s interest in the subject goes back about 20 years, when he worked in a bone marrow transplant unit at the University of Minnesota. One day he noticed that 11 of 12 patients were on morphine drips because “they had really bad mouth sores.”
Read More: http://robesonian.com/news/news/50967939/Doctor-punches-cancer-in-the-mouth
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