The process of mucositis guidelines development: methodology and perspectives

Abstract

Background: In 2010 the MASCC/ISOO Mucositis Study Group embarked on the process of updating its guidelines for the management of mucositis. Methods: All members of the MASCC Mucositis Study Group were invited to participate in the process. Ten topics for review were defined. Literature search strategies were developed by creating lists of known interventions for oral and gastrointestinal mucositis and topic-specific keywords for pathogenesis and epidemiology. Searches were limited to human research published in English. All involved in reviewing underwent training and calibration of completion of review forms to ensure standardised evidence allocation. Results: During the process of guidelines development several issue were addressed, including, the need for specific approaches for different study types, identifying the optimal criteria for evaluation of scientific evidence, overlap in database searches, inclusion and exclusion criteria for publications, and logistics of electronic and online systems required for completion of this truly worldwide project. Conclusion: Employing previous MASCC/ISOO methodology provided a valid and practical approach to determination of mucositis guidelines. MEDLINE via the OVID interface provided broad coverage of the published literature and was supplemented by additional database searches as required. Studies published between 1967 and 2010 were included in the review to provide a comprehensive approach to guideline development. Specific software for citation management, structured excel review forms and cloud computing were used as a platform for the first time to organize the vast quantity of publications and data collected. It is hoped that future guideline updates will be streamlined thanks to these new initiatives.