Page 83 - FINAL COMPENDIUM 2020-2021 27.2.2022

CHALLENGES IN CHEMOTHERAPY PATIENTS IN A NON-ONCOLOGY HOSPITAL

Ashvini A, Saridah M

Chemotherapy is often an advocated treatment for oral cancer patients. Combined
chemotherapy with radiotherapy has been shown to improve local control due to its
direct cytotoxic effects and its potential systemic effect in targeting malignant cells. As
every treatment carries a set of side effects, patients undergoing chemotherapy are
anticipated to experience multiple discomforts, complications and associated lesions.
They are usually multifactorial such as the type and dose of chemotherapeutic drugs and
patients’ health status. As a non-oncology hospital, we faced many challenges while
managing oral cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy that came from both patient
and primary physician. Patient’s awareness, socio-economic background, psychological
status and personal beliefs are some of the major challenges we faced. Meanwhile,
communication with the Oncology team, limited diagnostic tools and the non-ideal facility
environment becomes the hiccup on our part. This case series summarizes the challenges
and how we tackled them so the patients will benefit from optimum treatment care.

Free paper presented at the 25th MAOMS Annual Scientific Meeting on 19th March 2021
Published in Malaysian Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (2021); 19, page 55
Dr Ashvini A/P Ambikapathy
Dr Saridah binti Mahdah
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Tawau Hospital
Tawau, Sabah

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