New medical device aims to improve patient comfort during chemotherapy
Ramya Sriram, digital content manager at Kolabtree, a freelance platform for scientists, discusses the discovery of a medical device which aims to improve comfort for chemotherapy patients.
Chemotherapy has a considerable number of unpleasant side effects, but 40 percent of patients report that the most troubling is oral mucositis. Characterized by sores and inflammation in the patient’s mouth, oral mucositis has a significant impact on a patient’s quality of life - and the implications can be severe.
Although chemotherapy drugs attack rapidly dividing cells, they do not distinguish between friend and foe, which means they attack healthy tissue, as well as cancerous cells. Circulating chemotherapy drugs in the bloodstream reach the mouth and break down the mucous membranes lining the cheeks, tongue and other areas, causing painful sores, bleeding and inflammation. The condition occurs in about 80 percent of high-dose chemotherapy patients and can lead to a patient stopping eating and drinking, and may necessitate a feeding tube or IV.
Treatment
Cryotherapy - cold therapy with ice chips, has been the go-to treatment for oral mucositis. Numerous studies have tried different medications to reduce the severity of oral mucositis, but none have shown much success.
Discovery of the Chemo Mouthpiece
When he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, engineer David Yoskowitz experienced oral mucositis first-hand. The treatment - ice chips - were nauseating and inefficient. After his recovery, Yoskowitz knew there had to be a better approach.
He created a simple, effective, easy to use device for patients to use during chemotherapy treatments at home or in hospital. His product, the Chemo Mouthpiece, is an intraoral ice pack that cools the entire oral cavity. The patient freezes the device at home and puts it in their mouth during treatments to effectively reduce the severity of oral mucositis.
The device includes two chambers, a centre core filled with filtered water, and an outer section filled with proprietary saline, which can reach freezing temperatures without solidifying. Two tubes run through the device so the patient can breathe comfortably.
Kolabtree became involved when Yoskowitz was assembling a team to bring the product to market. The company posted a project on Kolabtree, looking for an experienced medical researcher and writer to produce a whitepaper on oral mucositis.
Experienced cancer research scientist Dr Kiranam Chatti stepped in to collate relevant literature and summarize information in a report. The company was able to use the findings to help generate interest in the product ahead of its launch, uploading the whitepaper to its website to create an information hub.
Where are we now?
The product was launched in the US in May 2019, with the first unit shipped to coincide with the Oncology Nursing Society Convention in California. It is FDA registered and patients in the US can now order directly from the company’s website. The organization currently works with distributors in 34 countries to supply the product to patients all over the world. Chemo Mouthpiece is also working on a clinical trial to compare its product’s efficacy against best supportive care in a cohort of patients being treated for breast or colorectal cancer.