Prevention and Treatment of Interstitial Lesions of the Gastrointestinal Mucosa in Patients With Breast Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy

Abstract

Malignant neoplasms are one of the leading causes of death in all countries of the world. Oncological pathology is diagnosed annually in more than 450 thousand people, of which about 300 thousand patients die from tumors per year. Most patients with a newly established diagnosis have stages III - IV of the disease and require systemic treatment. Chemotherapy in modern oncology, along with surgical methods and radiation exposure, is one of the most important components of the treatment of patients with malignant neoplasms. At the same time, long-term treatment, a large number of complications and, as a consequence, deterioration in the quality of life of such patients with loss of ability to work and the possibility of death put the problem of prevention and treatment of toxic reactions in patients receiving chemotherapy in a number of socially significant problems. The most sensitive to the destructive action of chemotherapy drugs are rapidly dividing tissues of the body, which include the epithelium of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). The incidence of gastrointestinal toxicity in patients receiving chemotherapy ranges from 4.7 to 69.2% and is due to both the direct damaging effect of cytostatics on epithelial cells and the addition of infection. Data on the incidence of hepatotoxicity during chemotherapy vary from 14.3 to 100%, which may be due to different mechanisms of action of cytostatic agents, including their damaging effect on the liver, differences in methods and criteria for identifying hepatotoxicity. Untimely correction of complications from the digestive system may require discontinuation of special treatment, change of the scheme of obviously effective therapy, which significantly worsens the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy, and consequently the prognosis of the disease. In addition, there is a decrease in the quality of life of patients, there is a need for additional examination and treatment.  In this article our objective is to evaluate strategies for the prevention and treatment of interstitial lesions of the gastrointestinal mucosa in patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, and to assess their impact on patient outcomes and quality of life.