The Effects of Oral Cryotherapy on Chemotherapy-Induced Oral Mucositis in Patients Undergoing Autologous Transplantation of Blood Stem Cells: A Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND Oral mucositis is one of the irritating side effects of chemotherapy in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation. However, up until now, the common methods of oral mucositis therapy have failed to show significant effects. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of local cryotherapy on the intensity of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis in autologous bone marrow transplantation patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS 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 groups (n = 16). In the intervention group, cryotherapy was applied, while the control group received a normal saline mouthwash. The severity of the mucositis and neutrophil rate were investigated in five periods, based on the world health organization (WHO) scales. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney test, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), and linear regression. RESULTS In both groups, the mucositis reached its peak intensity on the 7th day, and the least intensity was obtained on the 21st day. The neutrophil rate reached the minimum value on the 7th day, then increased up to the 21st day. The two groups showed no significant differences between the mucositis severity on the 14th and 21st days (P = 0.164), while the severity of the mucositis in the cryotherapy group was significantly less than that in the saline mouthwash group (1.81 < 2.54 and 0.13 < 0.92, respectively) on the 7th and 14th days (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the neutrophil rate between the groups. CONCLUSIONS The results showed that cryotherapy is more effective than the saline mouthwash in reducing the severity of mucositis. This method is recommended for the prevention of mucositis in bone marrow transplantation.