ABSTRACT
The treatment of cancer, particularly hematologic malignancies, entails using toxic drug cocktails that inflict considerable damage on two primary host defenses: the phagocytic line of defense, primarily the neutrophils, and the integument, i.e. the skin and the mucosa of the oral cavity and digestive tract. The importance of neutropenia has been recognized for over 30 years since the seminal publication of Bodey and colleagues.1 More recently, it has become increasingly clear that injury to the mucosal barrier of the oral cavity and alimentary tract that results from the same intensive chemotherapy is not simply an inevitable side-effect but is also responsible for much of the morbidity that accompanies myelotoxicity.2-4 In fact, patients exposed to intensive radiotherapy and cytotoxic chemotherapy are placed in double jeopardy, because concurrent mucositis and neutropenia leave them bereft of defenses against infection.
