Mater Researchers are exploring a potential treatment for Xerostomia or dry mouth, a common symptom experienced by many people with advanced cancer.
The condition causes difficulties with speaking, eating, and swallowing and there are currently limited effective treatments available.
Mater Research Clinical Trials Coordinator and nurse Karyn Foster is leading a project team in a pilot study to test the feasibility, safety and efficacy of pilocarpine, a medication known for stimulating saliva production.
To date, 18 advanced cancer patients with severe dry mouth have been recruited from the Mater Cancer Care Centre for the 18-day trial period.
The double-blind trial uses a novel method called N-of-1, an approach that tests the treatment on individual patients over several cycles to assess its efficacy. This enables each patient to view their results soon after completion.
Participants took pilocarpine in the form of compounded orally dissolving tablets, alternating between pilocarpine and a placebo over three six-day cycles.
Mrs Foster said early results showed some promising signs.
“In our small sample, all patients who reliably completed the full 18-day trial had some reduction in dry mouth scores on pilocarpine, and side effects were generally mild,” she said.
“Our main aim of conducting this pilot study was to see if it is feasible to recruit advanced cancer patients to a dry mouth study using the N-of-1 design.
“We found that while it was feasible to identify and recruit these patients, the trial burden should be reduced in future studies to improve completion rates, such as reducing the number of questionnaires for participants to complete and shortening the overall duration of the trial.
“The findings from our study open the door to further investigation into pilocarpine and its potential as a treatment for dry mouth in cancer patients,” Mrs Foster said.
The full study, titled Orally dissolving pilocarpine tablets for xerostomia in advanced cancer: A pilot N-of-1 feasibility study was originally published online in December 2024.
