Am J Clin Nutr: Oral glutamine treatment effects on oral mucositis and dermatitis in patients with head and neck cancer caused by radiation

Glutamine is the main energy of the gastrointestinal epithelial, maintaining the mucous membrane structureTumor patients often experience oral mucositis, which can lead to an unexpected interruption of radiotherapy (RT)The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between oral glutamine and acute toxicity in patients with head and neck cancer when receiving RTthis is a parallel, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase III trial in a university hospitalA central randomization center used computer-generated tables to assign interventions to 71 stage I-IV patients with head and neck cancerPatients, care providers, and researchers assigned the group (triple blindness)Eligible patients received oral glutamine (5 g glutamine and 10 g maltodextrin) or placebo (15 g maltodextrin) 3 times a day, from RT First 7 d to 14 d after RTThe main and secondary endpoints are radiation-induced oral mucositis and neck dermatitisRecord the occurrence of adverse eventsresults, the study analyzed 64 patients who completed RT (placebo n s 33; glutamine n s 31)The results of the multivariate analysis showed no significant effect on the severity of oral mucositis (OR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.05, 1.67; P - 0.169)Only changes in body mass index (BMI) are significant in multivariate completions (OR:0.41; 95% CI:0.20, 0.84; P - 0.015) and per-programme analysis (OR: 0.40; 95% CI: 0.20, 0.83; P - 0.014)No difference was found in the incidence and severity of neck dermatitis between the arms, the results show that the decline in BMI is closely related to the severity of oral mucositis in patients with RT lower head and neck cancer, but not to the use of glutamine