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Beta-blockers for tenacious saliva: a case report
  1. Myles J. Woodman1 and
  2. Paul Howard2,3
  1. 1 Department of General Medicine, St Mary's Hospital, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK
  2. 2 Mountbatten Hospice, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK
  3. 3 Palliative Care Team, St Mary's Hospital, Isle of Wight NHS Trust, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Paul Howard, Mountbatten Hospice, Newport, Isle of Wight, UK; paul.howard1{at}nhs.net

Abstract

This case report describes the care of a 75-year-old gentleman with metastatic head and neck cancer who was highly symptomatic with intractable tenacious oropharyngeal secretions. The patient reported subjective benefit from oral atenolol. A literature review was undertaken and identified no previous studies on the use of β-blockers for secretions in malignant disease, although some anecdotal evidence for their use in motor neuron disease. The proposed underlying mechanism is that β1-blockade reduced the protein content of salivary secretions, hence reducing its viscosity. Further studies of both the role of β-adrenoreceptors in the control of secretion viscosity and the potential role of β-blockers in alleviating symptomatic tenacious secretions are warranted.

  • Drug administration
  • Head and neck
  • Neurological conditions

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Footnotes

  • Contributors MJW conducted the literature review and drafted the original manuscript. PH reviewed and contributed to the manuscript and obtained informed consent for publication from the patient’s family.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.