For patients getting high-dose chemotherapy before a stem cell transplant, one of the most dreaded side effects is oral mucositis, painful sores and inflammation that can make eating, talking, and swallowing miserable. Doctors in Poland found that an unusually pleasant intervention, eating ice cream from the hospital cafeteria during the infusion, was linked to about half the rate of those sores.
The finding, which won the 2022 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine, rests on an established idea called oral cryotherapy, or cooling the mouth during treatment. What made it unusual was the dessert.
