MOUTH CARE FOR NASOPHARYNGEAL CANCER-PATIENTS UNDERGOING RADIOTHERAPY

A randomised trial was undertaken to compare the effect of three oral care protocols in delaying the onset of stomatitis and reducing oral i njury in nasopharyngeal cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. 30 el igible patients with a mean age of 56.2 years were recruited and evenl y allocated to one of the three groups using a randomly permuted block s method. Patients allocated to group El and group E2 were given the s ame instructions on oral care at 1 day, and 1 week before radiotherapy , respectively, while those allocated to the control group were given no instructions. We use the Oral Assessment Guide to assess the oral p hysical conditions of these patients daily. Our findings revealed that the patients in the E2 group not only had later onset of stomatitis t han those in the control and the El groups, but also had lesser degree of oral injury measured by the overall assessment score. We thereby r ecommend the use of the E2 protocol for delaying the onset of stomatit is and reducing oral injury in nasopharyngeal cancer patients undergoi ng radiotherapy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.