What do systematic reviews say?

Colchicine (0.5 mg three times per day) vs Clofazimine (100 mg daily for 30 days, then 100 mg every other day)

• Systemic interventions for recurrent aphthous stomatitis (mouth ulcers) 2012 · Cochrane All outcomes

  6 months
  One trial at high risk of bias (de Abreu 2009) compared clofazimine (n=23) with colchicine (n=23). The number with no further aphthous episodes at 6 months was significantly greater in the clofazimine group than the…
  1 study · 46 participants
  GRADE not reported

Colchicine (0.5 mg three times per day) vs Clofazimine (100 mg daily for 30 days, then 100 mg every other day)

• Systemic interventions for recurrent aphthous stomatitis (mouth ulcers) 2012 · Cochrane All outcomes

  6 months
  Clofazimine was associated with an increase in cutaneous adverse effects (Fisher's exact test P=0.015), easily controlled; there was a greater percentage of treatment interruptions in the colchicine group due to…
  1 study · 46 participants
  GRADE not reported

OASIS moisturising mouthwash vs Experimental mouthwash formulation

• Interventions for the management of dry mouth: topical therapies 2011 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Shirodaria 2006 (crossover): OASIS reported to give a statistically significant improvement over subjects' normal remedies, but the report did not present the randomised OASIS-versus-experimental comparison; no data…
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if no/incomplete response) vs Planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Recurrence: outcome not reported in a usable way (Mehanna 2017: nodal recurrence 3 vs 1; distant metastases 21 vs 23).
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if no/incomplete response) vs Planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if… showed no clear difference in total mortality compared with planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy (moderate certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 years
  HR 0.92 [0.65, 1.31]
  1 study · 564 participants
  Moderate

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if no/incomplete response) vs Planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if… showed no clear difference in locoregional recurrence compared with planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy (moderate certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes

  3 years
  HR 1.00 [0.94, 1.06]
  1 study · 564 participants
  Moderate

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if no/incomplete response) vs Planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Adverse events: 22 surgical complications in the PET-CT group vs 83 in the planned-surgery group (Mehanna 2017).
  1 study · 564 participants
  Very low

PET-CT following chemoradiotherapy (neck dissection only if no/incomplete response) vs Planned neck dissection before or after chemoradiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers: surgical treatment 2023 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Disease-free survival: outcome not reported in a usable way (Mehanna 2017: disease-specific and other-cause mortality did not differ, P=0.80 and 0.41).
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Chemotherapy regimen A (+/- locoregional treatment) vs Chemotherapy regimen B (+/- locoregional treatment)

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Induction cisplatin+5-FU+docetaxel vs cisplatin+5-FU: disease-free survival HR 0.72 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.91, P = 0.006; Vermorken 2007). Prior to concurrent chemoradiation: Posner 2007 HR 0.71 (0.56 to 0.90, P = 0.005).…
  2 studies
  GRADE not reported

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) vs Locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy… showed no clear difference in overall survival, induction cisplatin + 5-fluorouracil + docetaxel… compared with locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone (low certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  HR 1.08 [0.80, 1.44]
  3 studies · 760 participants
  Low

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) vs Locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy… led to lower locoregional control, induction cisplatin + 5-fluorouracil +… compared with locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  RR 0.80 [0.64, 0.99]
  3 studies
  GRADE not reported

Chemotherapy (any regimen; added to, or compared with, locoregional treatment) vs Locoregional treatment and/or an alternative chemotherapy regimen

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Quality of life was a planned (protocol) outcome but no included trial provided usable quality-of-life data; the protocol was modified to report only survival/response outcomes.
  0 studies
  No studies found

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) vs Locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy… showed no clear difference in overall survival, induction platinum + 5-fluorouracil prior to… compared with locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone (low certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  HR 1.06 [0.71, 1.60]
  1 study · 198 participants
  Low

Chemotherapy regimen A (+/- locoregional treatment) vs Chemotherapy regimen B (+/- locoregional treatment)

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Eight of 11 induction-before-radiotherapy studies reported overall survival; not pooled (heterogeneity). Only Vermorken 2007 significant: cisplatin+5-FU+docetaxel induction HR 0.73 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.93, P = 0.01).…
  8 studies
  GRADE not reported

Chemotherapy vs Placebo

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Types of studies: it was anticipated that there would be no studies comparing chemotherapy with placebo (none were identified).
  0 studies
  No studies found

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) vs Locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy… showed no clear difference in overall survival, induction platinum + 5-fluorouracil prior to… compared with locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone (moderate certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  HR 0.85 [0.70, 1.04]
  5 studies · 7427 participants
  Moderate

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) vs Locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone

Induction chemotherapy plus locoregional treatment (radiotherapy… led to lower disease-free survival, induction platinum + 5-fluorouracil prior to… compared with locoregional treatment (radiotherapy and/or surgery) alone; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  HR 0.78 [0.63, 0.97]
  3 studies · 332 participants
  GRADE not reported

Concomitant (concurrent) chemoradiotherapy vs Radiotherapy alone

Concomitant (concurrent) chemoradiotherapy led to lower locoregional control, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (platinum +… compared with radiotherapy alone (non-resectable tumours); GRADE not reported.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  RR 0.75 [0.61, 0.93]
  3 studies
  GRADE not reported

Surgery +/- radiotherapy + (adjuvant) chemotherapy vs Surgery +/- radiotherapy alone (observation or adjuvant radiotherapy only)

Surgery +/- radiotherapy + (adjuvant) chemotherapy showed no clear difference in overall survival, adjuvant chemotherapy vs observation alone… compared with surgery +/- radiotherapy alone (observation or adjuvant radiotherapy… (moderate certainty).

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  HR 0.95 [0.73, 1.22]
  5 studies · 353 participants
  Moderate

Chemotherapy (any regimen; added to, or compared with, locoregional treatment) vs Locoregional treatment and/or an alternative chemotherapy regimen

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: chemotherapy 2021 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Harms/toxicity were planned but very little quantitative data suitable for analysis were found; toxicity reported narratively and not quantified or GRADE-rated.
  Studies not reported
  GRADE not reported