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Mouth Sores after treatment

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OncoLink
Last Modified: June 8, 2012

Question

How can I prevent mouth sores or treat it before it gets too bad?

Answer

Alexander Lin, MD, Radiation Oncologist at Penn Medicine, responds:

The development of mouths sores may be inevitable, especially if areas in the mouth need to be irradiated due to cancer involvement. Strategies to minimize mouth sores include minimizing the amount of radiation delivered to areas of the mouth that are uninvolved with cancer, as well as starting prophylactic pain medications early in the treatment course that may help minimize how much discomfort the mouth sores cause.

This question and answer was part of the OncoLink Brown Bag Chat Series. View the entire Head and Neck Cancer Q&A Webchat transcript.