Cancer treatment-induced oral mucositis: a critical review

Abstract

Introduction.- Head and neck cancer represents actually one of the main oncological problems. In its treatment, radiotherapy and chemotherapy leads to mucositis, as well as other side effects. Objective.- To review the high-quality evidence published over the last twenty-five years on the treatment of cancer treatment-induced oral mucositis. Material and methods.- A search of double blind randomised controlled clinical trials between 1985 and 2010 was performed in the Medline database. Oral mucositis, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, head and neck were used as keywords. Results.- The different therapeutic approaches found for cancer treatment-induced oral mucositis included: intensive oral hygiene care, use of topical antiseptics and antimicrobial agents, use of anti inflammatory agents, cytokines and growth factors, locally applied non-pharmacological methods, antioxidants, immune modulators, anticholeric agents and homoeopathic agents. Discussion.- To date no intervention has been able to prevent and treat oral mucositis on its own. Therefore, it is necessary to combine interventions that act on the different phases of mucositis. Conclusions.- It is still unclear as to which strategies reduce oral mucositis, as there is not enough evidence that describes a treatment with a proven efficiency and better than the other treatments for this condition