Effect of Oral Cryotherapy and Normal Saline Mouth Rinse on Chemotherapy –Induced Oral Mucositis in Patients with Autologous Blood Stem-Cell Transplantation: A Randomized clinical Trial

Abstract

Abstract: Oral mucositis is one of the annoying side effects of chemotherapy in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Up to now, the common methods of oral mucositis therapy have failed to show a significant effect. The objective is to investigate the effect of local cryotherapy on the intensity of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis in autologous bone marrow transplantation. In this single blinded randomized clinical trial, 29 patients undergoing stem cell transplantation in Iran were selected by convenience sampling and randomly allocated to control (n=13) and intervention group (n=16). In the intervention group, cryotherapy was applied while control group received the normal saline mouthwash. The severity of mucositis and neutrophils rate investigated in five periods based on the World Health Organization (WHO) scales. Data analysis was performed using SPSS17, descriptive statistics and linear regression. The results show that in both groups, mucositis reached its peak intensity in the 7th day and the least intensity obtained up to 21st day. The neutrophils rate reached the minimum value in 7th day, and then increased up to 21st day. The two groups showed no significant difference between the mucositis severity in 14th and 21th days (p=0.164), while the severity of mucositis in the cryotherapy group was significantly less than saline mouthwash (1.81<2.54 and 0.13<0.92, respectively) at 7th and 14th days (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in neutrophils rate between groups. As conclusion cryotherapy is more effective than saline mouthwash in reducing the severity of mucositis. This method is recommended for prevention and treatment of mucositis in bone marrow transplantation.