Comparison of persica and Chlorhexidine mouthwashes in prevention of stomatitis in patients receiving chemotherapy

 Abedipour A (MSc.), Abedsaeedi J (Ph.D), Salehi M (Ph.D), Ebrahimi E (Ph.D).

Abstract

Introduction: Oral mucositis ulcers are well documented side effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy of cancer. Such complications are not only painful for the patients, but may lead to premature discontinuation of effective chemotherapy due to decreased food uptake or risk of severe infection. The purpose of this controlled randomized clinical trial was to assess the effects of Persica mouthrinse in comparison with Chlorhexidine mouth rinse in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced stomatitis.

 Methods and Materials: By sequential sampling, 30 patients were seleced and were assigned to a treatment or control group (each 15 patients). Subjects were seleced from oncology units of medical sciences hospitals in Tehran, and all of them received similar chemotherapy regimen for AML and ALL. The patients of the treatment group performed 3 times daily rinsing with persica, the control patients with chlorhexidine. Clinical examination of the oral mucosa was performed before starting chemotherapy and every other day during chemotherapy until 3 weeks.

 Results: Stomatitis was observed in 5 patients (33.3%) of the treatment group (mean grading: 0/67) and 8 patients (53.3%) of the control group (mean grading: 0/87) furthermore 13 patients (86.7%) were satisfied with persica While 11 patients (73.3%) were satisfied with chlorhexidine.

Conclusion: All findings were not significantly different between the two groups. It is conducted that rinsing with persica reduces the onset and severity of stomatitis during chemotherapy as well as chlorhexidine. Also the acceptability of both, persica and chlorhexidine, was similar. With regard to the side effects of chlorhexidine we can suggest persica as a safety mouthwash in the prevention of chemotherapy - induced stomatitis.

Key words: Stomatitis, persica, chemotherapy, mouthwash