Prevention of Oral Mucositis Due to 5-Fluorouracil Treatment with Oral Cryotherapy: RESULTS

Posted by James

Seventy-eight (71.7%) of the courses were given to male and 21 (28.3%) were given to female subjects. Cryotherapy was administered in 45.5% of the courses. After the chemotherapy treatment, mucositis was observed in 24.2% of courses (Table 1).

Table 1. Distribution of the chemotherapy courses according to sex, cryotherapy administration and development of mucositis

	(n=99)	%
Sex
Male	71	71.7
Female	28	28.3
Cryotherapy
Administrated	45	45.5
Not administrated	54	54.5
Development of Mucositis
Yes	24	24.2
No	75	75.8

Mucositis was observed in 19.7% of the courses given to the male subjects, and this ratio was 35.7% in females (p=0.094). Mucositis was developed in 22.2% of courses given to subjects who were using dentures (p=0.774) (Table 2). These two variables have no statistically significant correlation with the development of mucositis.
buy tadalafil online

Table 2. Distribution of courses with and without mucositis according to sex and presence of dentures

	Mucositis
Observed		Not Observed
n	%*	n	%*	x2	P
Sex
Male      14	19.7	57	80.3	2.798	0.094
Female   10	35.7	18	64.3
Dentures
Yes         6	22.2	21	77.8	0.083	0.774
No         18	25.0	54	75.0
* percent of lines n=99

While mucositis developed in 6.7% of the courses given with cryotherapy, this ratio was 38.9% in courses given without cryotherapy. In the logistic regression analysis, development of mucositis had been found to correlate only with cryotherapy. Odds ratio (OR)=11.5; in the 95% confidence interval (CI)=3.2^1.9; (p=0.001) (Table 3). In view of this result, it can be assumed that cryotherapy has a protective effect against development of mucositis.

Table 3. Incidence of mucositis development in the chemotherapy courses given with and without cryotherapy

Mucositis
Cryotherapy    Observed	Not Observed
n      %*	n      %*
Administrated          3     6.7	42     93.3
Not administrated    21    38.9	33     61.1
Total                     24    24.2	75     75.8
* percent of lines; p=0.000; x2= 13.876

In the total of 24 courses in which mucositis developed, the percentages of grade I, II and III mucositis were 66.7%o, 20.8% and 12.5%, respectively. Grade-IV mucositis was observed in none of the cases. However, only grade-I mucositis was observed in courses given with cryotherapy (Table 4).
order sildenafil

Table 4. Grading of mucositis in the chemotherapy courses given with and without cryotherapy

		Cryotherapy
Mucositis		No		Yes
Grade	n	%	n	%
1	13	81.3	3	18.7
2	5	20.8	0	0
3	3	12.5	0	0
4	0	0	0	0
Total	21	87.5	3	12.5

Cryotherapy was well tolerated. No local or systemic side effects were observed due to cryotherapy. Common side effects developed secondary to chemotherapy included diarrhea (24.2%), nausea (6.1%), vomiting (3.0%) and fever (2.0%). None of these side effects showed correlation with cryotherapy.
levitra plus