Mucositis
Mucositis can usually be diagnosed with a description of your symptoms and after a physical examination.
If you're receiving high-dose chemotherapy or Radiotherapy , it's likelythat you will receive regular (weekly) assessments for mucositis until the risk of developing the condition has passed.
To confirm a diagnosis of oral mucositis, an assessment is made by:
Healthcare professionals use a grading system to determine how serious the symptoms of oral mucositis are. There are several different grading systems available.
The World Health Organization (WHO) uses the grading system described below:
Cases of grade one or two mucositis can usually be treated at home. Cases of grade three and four mucositis usually require admission to hospital so you can be given nutritional support and your general health can be carefully monitored.
For example, a bowel obstruction (blockage) or a perforated (burst) intestine may be diagnosed using a computerised tomography (CT) scan . This is wheremultiple X-rays are taken at slightly different angles and put together by a computer to create a detailed image of the inside of your body.
Mucositis is a condition that causes pain and inflammation of the surface of the mucous membrane.
Mucositis is usually a side effect of cancer treatment.
Mucositis can usually be diagnosed after a physical examination and a description of your symptoms.
There is no single treatment for mucositis, as it largely depends on which type of mucositis you have and exactly what caused it.
Some treatments can be taken before you receive cancer therapy to try to reduce the severity and duration of mucositis.