Aphthous ulcer in pancreatic cancer

Question

My father is 70 years old and is almost seven months struggling with Pancreatic Cancer stage IV.Recently there are a dozens of aphthous ulcer in his mouth and he can't eat anything for a week. Have anyone else face this issue before? any useful treatment for this? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanx.

Update:

Before this time, these ulcers were cured by a herbal treatment(of course the doctor agreed to use) There was a gel made with licorice root and was effective that time. But know it's not sufficient and by doctor prescription we are using chlorhexidine 0.2% and nystatin powder for oral suspension and for soothing his mouth, ice cream is great but mostly we give him carrot juice with ice cream.

Now that he doesn't eat anything doctor diagnosed it is more than ulcers and is an oral thrush. We now use lidocaine and then give him food or medicine.

Answer 1

Assuming you are certain that the oral ulceration you are referring to is aphthous stomatitis, pain killers should be considered, especially if hydration and nutrition are affected. Aphthous ulcers are a common oral mucosal lesion (1); most treatments focus on reducing pain and healing time.

Based on your question, I'm assuming that your father is not using any analgesic or the one he's taking are not effective enough.

Because most treatments are used without research demonstrating therapeutic results (2), it's difficult for me to describe useful treatments.

Still, I've seen severe cases where analgesics, including viscous lidocaine, were used (as buccal tx, NOT swallowed).

Also, when pain has been reduced enough for mastication and swallowing to be tolerable, soft and pH neutral food can help bring satiety. Avoid any hard food that may injure the ulcers, as this will increase pain and healing time.

Please make sure to discuss this issue with your father's MD, especially if he's not eating at all.

References: (1) Aphthous Stomatitis (http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1122381-overview) (2) Systemic interventions for recurrent aphthous stomatitis (mouth ulcers) (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22972085)