The effect of preventive oral care on intraoral side effect in the patients receving radiotherapy for head and neck cancer

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are main treatment methods for malignant tumors. However, adverse reactions to radiotherapy, such as mucitis and impairment of saliva secretion and gestation, are likely to occur. In the presence of oral mucitis, oral ingestion becomes difficult due to pain, which may reduce the nutritional state and QOL, affecting the treatment plans. The importance of the oral care of patients undergoing radiotherapy has been increasingly recognized, with the expectation that the reduction and prevention of adverse reactions in oral will increase the treatment effects. In this study, we investigated the effect of oral care for reducing adverse reactions to radiotherapy. Fourteen patients with head and neck cancers who underwent radiotherapy at our hospital since January 2004 to December 2007 were divided into 2 groups, oral hygiene and control group with 7 patients respecively, with or without specialized oral care, and oral mucitis was evaluated with regard to the progression of stomatitis and grade of inflammation. There was difference in the severity of stomatitis between the 2 groups, the occurrence of mucitis tended to be delayed in the oral hygiene group than the occurrence in the control group and there are no severer mucitis more than grade 2 in the oral hygiene group.The CRP level increased sharply at a radiation dose of 20 Gy and higher in the control group, while it increased gradually and slightly in the oral hygiene group. The oral hygienic condition deteriorates may be a essential factor patients undergoing radiotherapy for oral cancer due to the adverse effects of radiotherapy. This finding suggested that oral care may be a essential factor that contributes to the therapeutic effects by reducing adverse reactions in patients undergoing radiotherapy because of its positive effects on the nutritional state, QOL.
論文