Oral symptom assessment tools in patients with advanced cancer: a scoping review

Abstract PurposeOral symptoms are common in patients with advanced cancer. The aim of this scoping review was to identify oral symptom assessment tools that have been specifically utilised in patients with “advanced cancer”.MethodsThe review was conducted / reported according to international guidelines for undertaking scoping reviews. PubMed, Embase and CINAHL were searched for articles involving adult patients with advanced cancer, which involved assessment of ≥ 2 oral symptoms, and which involved patients with > 1 type of cancer. ResultsThe review identified four validated symptom assessment scales, including one cancer-specific quality of life scale (EORTC QLQ OH-15), one generic tool for assessing the “social impact” of specific oral problems (OHIP), one cancer-specific generic symptom assessment scale (MSAS), and one cancer-specific oral symptom assessment scale (OSAS).ConclusionSymptom assessment tools can facilitate good symptom control in clinical practice, and are an integral component of clinical research. The review identified four validated symptom assessment scales that could be utilised to assess oral symptoms in patients with advanced cancer.