Clinical Research Directory

Intraoral Hypothermia Device for Preserving Taste During Radiation

Radiation therapy to the head and neck region is known to cause taste dysfunction. Preliminary studies showed that cooling normal structures may lower damage caused by radiation. The purpose of this research study is to see if it is feasible to use an intraoral cooling device during radiation treatments to preserve or lower the decline of taste function.

Addressing Taste Dysfunction With Miraculin in Head and Neck Cancer Patients Receiving Radiation Therapy

Patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer who receive radiation therapy with and without chemotherapy develop altered sense of taste due to treatment effect, which typically arises in the second week of radiation therapy and progresses throughout the course of treatment. While some symptoms such as pain, mucositis, and xerostomia can be managed with pain medications and saliva replacements, taste alteration has an earlier onset and is a more difficult symptom to readily address and intervene upon. There are no effective established interventions for taste, although this is a major issue in the patient experience. The investigator will be examining they hypothesis that a miracle fruit cube would yield the greatest benefit to improve taste dysfunction in the beginning half of radiation treatment when taste function is decreased but not absent.