Raphael, M.F., den Boer, A.M., Kollen, W.J., Mekelenkamp, H., Abbink, F.C., Kaspers, G.J., . . . Tissing, W.J. (2014). Caphosol, a therapeutic option in case of cancer therapy-induced oral mucositis in children?: Results from a prospective multicenter double blind randomized controlled trial. Supportive Care in Cancer, 22, 3–6.
To evaluate if Caphosol™ is effective to treat oral mucositis (OM) in pediatric patients who received chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT)
A sample of 33 patients between 4–18 years old was assigned to Caphosol or placebo. All patients received standard local supportive care, in addition to Caphosol study or 0.9% sodium chloride (NaCl) placebo mouth rinse. All patients were instructed to use the study mouthwash four times daily during their OM period. Primary study outcome was defined as the number of days with OM greater than grade 1. Secondary outcomes were pain and analgesic use.
Chi-square or t-test was used for analysis. The number of days with mucositis greater than grade 1 did not differ significantly between the two study groups (p = 0.154). No significant differences were found between Caphosol and placebo for all the outcome measures except days of pain and tube feeding requirement. Placebo was associated with significantly fewer days of pain (p = 0.035) . The need for tube feeding was significantly higher in the Caphosol group.
Therapeutic use of Caphosol was not beneficial in the treatment of pediatric patients with cancer therapy-induced OM.
Although this study was a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial, the significantly small sample size was problematic. The authors concluded that Caphosol was not effective in practice; however, it is not conclusive because of the significantly high risk for type II errors. A study with a larger sample size is required to assess the efficacy of Caphosol.