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Oral Mucositis Management in Patients Receiving Radiation for Head and Neck Cancer: An Evaluation of a Barrier Based Treatment

A Prospective Feasibility Cohort Trial of Oral Mucositis Management in Patients Receiving Radiation for Head and Neck Cancer: An Evaluation of a Barrier-based Treatment (Gelclair)

Status
Active, not recruiting
Phases
Phase 4
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07697287
Acronym
TOPHAT
Enrollment
29
Registered
2026-07-13
Start date
2025-12-15
Completion date
2026-12-31
Last updated
2026-07-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Hypopharyngeal Cancer, Nasopharyngeal Cancer, Oropharyngeal Cancers, Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Keywords

Radiation Therapy, Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Oral Cancer, Neck Cancer, Quality of Life (QoL)

Brief summary

Patients who are undergoing radiation therapy on their head and/or neck, are highly likely to experience oral mucositis, which is inflammation and irritation of the mucus membranes in your mouth. This inflammation leads to difficulty eating and drinking normally as it becomes painful to do so. Currently, the Juravinski Cancer Centre (JCC) uses a standard mouth rinse to try and help prevent inflammation/soothe the pain of inflammation caused by radiation treatments, however, better options may exist. Biosyent's Gelclair is a widely available, safe-to-use mouth rinse that aims to create a protective coating on your mucus membranes to help reduce inflammation and discomfort during your radiation treatment. We aim to see if this product provides a more positive experience for patients then the current mouth rinse utilized by the JCC.

Detailed description

The current magic mouthwash being utilized at the JCC for standard of care for Heck and Neck Radiation patients has been shown to not be anymore effective than other standard sulcate-tantum mouthwashes in preventing discomfort or reducing the requirement of needing a feeding tube for sustenance during radiation treatments. More recently two mucoadhesive topical coating agents have been approved in Canada for this population of patients, Gengigel and Gelclair. These agents adhere to the mucosa and potentially improve efficacy of the therapeutic agent due to rapid absorption and easy application. A recent systematic review of bioadhesives for the treatment of RIOM found statistically significant decrease in severe oral mucositis. We aim to determine if patients tolerate gelclair use, and to determine their use of and satisfaction with gelclair. This will inform the need for a large national RCT on Gelclair use.

Interventions

DEVICEGelclair Oral Mouth Rinse

Gelclair is viscous gel that is designed to sooth pain relating to oral mucositis.

Sponsors

McMaster University
Lead SponsorOTHER
Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation
CollaboratorOTHER
Escarpment Cancer Research Institute (ECRI)
CollaboratorUNKNOWN

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
DEVICE_FEASIBILITY
Masking
NONE

Intervention model description

Cohort of Eligible Patients (Consecutive Recruitment)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* 18 years of age or older. * Histologically proven (from either the primary lesion or regional lymph nodes) squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx or oral cavity. * Plan to receive at least 60 Gy dose of radiotherapy to be delivered daily Monday to Friday for 6 to 7 weeks.

Exclusion criteria

* Patient is unable (i.e. insufficiently fluent) or unwilling to complete the weekly questionnaires which are written in English. * Inability to provide informed consent. * ECOG performance score 2 or better. * Plan to receive a concurrent chemotherapy agent other than cisplatin. * Investigational agent of any kind within 30 days prior to enrollment. * Concurrent administration of any other experimental intervention given for the purpose of preventing RIOM (see section 7.5). * History of allergies or hypersensitivity reactions to any of the components in Gelclair.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Feasibility of Recruitment:6 MonthsFeasibility based on: Recruitment Rate (Pass is successful recruitment of 40 patients within 6 months)
Participant Compliance Rate8 weeks• Compliance Rate (Percent of patient who complete study \& all questionnaires as per protocol, pass is \>75%)
Product Tolerability Rate8 Weeks• Tolerability Rate (Percent of patients who use Gelclair for 10 days or longer, pass is \>50%)

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Time to Grade 3 Oral Mucositis8 WeeksTime from enrollment (day 0 of RT) until grade 3 oral mucositis (measured in days) is reported.
Patient Reported QoL8 WeeksThe severity of patient-reported symptoms of oral mucositis throughout the course of treatment as determined by clinically significant change in Oral Mucositis Weekly Questionnaire-Head and Neck Cancer (OMWQ-HN; see Appendix II questions 1-8) scores from baseline. The OMWQ-HN will be administered before the start of RT at baseline, and every 2 weeks until completion of RT, therefore weeks 2, 4, and 6 and then 1 final time 2 weeks post-treatment on week 8.
Ability to Eat8 WeeksNumber of days from start of treatment to feeding tube insertion / % participants requiring feeding tubes
Time to the Initiation of Systemic Opiods8 WeeksTime from enrollment (day 0 of RT) until the initiation of potent systemic opioid or increase in dose from baseline (measured in days).
Radiation Therapy Delay >7 Days8 WeeksTime from enrollment (day 0 of RT) until treatment delay of RT of 7 days or longer.

Countries

Canada

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 14, 2026