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Objective • To systematically review the efficacy of cryotherapy in head and neck cancer patients with radiation-induced oral stomatitis. Methods • >ubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang, VIP and CBM databases were searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of cryotherapy in head and neck cancer patients with ration-induced stomatitis from inception to January 31th, 2022. Literature screening, data extraction, and quality evaluation were performed independently by two researchers. Meta-analysis was then performed by using RevMan 5.4 and Stata 16.0 software. Results • A total of 36 RCTs were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that compared to control group, cryotherapy group had a lower total incidence of radiation-induced stomatitis [adds ratio (OR)=0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23-0.39, P=0.000] and a lower incidence of severe radiation-induced stomatitis (OR=0.17, 95%CI 0.14-0.21, P=0.000). Conclusion • Cryotherapy may contribute to reducing the incidence of radiation-induced stomatitis and the incidence of severe radiation-induced stomatitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]