The overall death rate from cancer has been declining for more than a decade as methods to diagnose, treat and monitor the disease are improving. Chemotherapy, a medicine used to kill off cancer cells, is a common treatment. As many as 650,000 cancer patients undergo chemotherapy each year in the United States alone.
And although chemotherapy drugs are effective at thwarting cancer, they’re not always a precise tool. Chemotherapy can also damage healthy tissues, causing a myriad of unpleasant side effects. One of which, is oral inflammation. And researchers are looking into solving this uncomfortable problem with a simple, sweet solution.
