Department of Pediatric Dentistry, New York University College of Dentistry, 421 First Avenue, Room 233W, New York, NY, 10010, USA.
Department of Epidemiology & Health Promotion, New York University College of Dentistry, Room 301, 433 First Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, USA.
BMC Cancer. 2022 Nov 11;22(1):1165. doi: 10.1186/s12885-022-10282-3.
Oral cancer patients suffer severe chronic and mechanically-induced pain at the site of the cancer. Our clinical experience is that oral cancer patients report new sensitivity to spicy foods. We hypothesized that in cancer patients, mechanical and chemical sensitivity would be greater when measured at the cancer site compared to a contralateral matched normal site.
We determined mechanical pain thresholds (MPT) on the right and left sides of the tongue of 11 healthy subjects, and at the cancer and contralateral matched normal site in 11 oral cancer patients in response to von Frey filaments in the range of 0.008 to 300 g (normally not reported as painful). We evaluated chemical sensitivity in 13 healthy subjects and seven cancer patients, who rated spiciness/pain on a visual analog scale in response to exposure to six paper strips impregnated with capsaicin (0-10 mM).
Mechanical detection thresholds (MDT) were recorded for healthy subjects, but not MPTs. By contrast, MPTs were measured at the site of the cancer in oral cancer patients (7/11 patients). No MPTs were measured at the cancer patients' contralateral matched normal sites. Measured MPTs were correlated with patients' responses to the University of California Oral Cancer Pain Questionnaire. Capsaicin sensitivity at the site of the cancer was evident in cancer patients by a leftward shift of the cancer site capsaicin dose-response curve compared to that of the patient's contralateral matched normal site. We detected no difference in capsaicin sensitivity on the right and left sides of tongues of healthy subjects.
Mechanical and chemical sensitivity testing was well tolerated by the majority of oral cancer patients. Sensitivity is greater at the site of the cancer than at a contralateral matched normal site.
口腔癌患者在癌症部位会遭受严重的慢性和机械性疼痛。我们的临床经验是，口腔癌患者报告对辛辣食物有新的敏感性。我们假设，与对侧匹配的正常部位相比，癌症患者在癌症部位测量时，机械和化学敏感性会更大。
我们在 11 名健康受试者的舌部右侧和左侧，以及 11 名口腔癌患者的癌症部位和对侧匹配的正常部位，测量了对 von Frey 纤维的机械疼痛阈值（MPT），范围为 0.008 至 300 g（通常不报告为疼痛）。我们评估了 13 名健康受试者和 7 名癌症患者的化学敏感性，他们在暴露于 6 个浸渍辣椒素的纸带上时，根据视觉模拟量表评定辣度/疼痛。
健康受试者记录了机械检测阈值（MDT），但未记录 MPT。相比之下，在口腔癌患者中，在癌症部位测量了 MPT（11 名患者中的 7 名）。在癌症患者的对侧匹配的正常部位未测量到 MPT。测量的 MPT 与患者对加利福尼亚大学口腔癌疼痛问卷的反应相关。与患者对侧匹配的正常部位相比，癌症部位的辣椒素剂量反应曲线向左移位，表明癌症患者的癌症部位辣椒素敏感性明显。我们在健康受试者的舌头右侧和左侧均未检测到辣椒素敏感性的差异。
大多数口腔癌患者对机械和化学敏感性测试的耐受性良好。敏感性在癌症部位大于对侧匹配的正常部位。
