Blijlevens, N.M., Donnelly, J.P., Naber, A.H., Schattenberg, A.V., & DePauw, B.E. (2005). A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, pilot study of parenteral glutamine for allogeneic stem cell transplant patients. Supportive Care in Cancer, 13, 790–796.

Parenteral nutrition supplemented with 0.57 g/kg glutamine-dipeptide was started on day 6 for a median of 19 days for patients in the treatment group.

• The sample consisted of 32 patients receiving allogenic stem cell transplantation.
• Median age in the treatment group was 49 years old with a range of 25–64 years. Median age in the control groupw as 48 years old with a range of 28–57 years.

The study was conducted between July 1999 and July 2002.

This was a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled pilot study.

Oral assessment was conducted daily. Lesions, erythema, edema, pain, bleeding, dryness, and the production of viscous mucous were scored on a 0–3 scale and summed to produce a daily oral mucositis score (DMS).

• DMS was 8.1 (SD = 3.5) in the glutamine group versus 9.3 (SD = 3.1) in the placebo group; results were not significant.
• No difference was found in mean daily dose of morphine to alleviate mucositis-related pain.

• The sample size was small.
• Multiple other measures were used; most were not significant.