U. Potočnik
Odsek za dentalno medicino, Medicinska fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani, Ljubljana, Slovenija

J. Jazbec
Klinični oddelek za hematologijo in onkologijo, Pediatrična klinika Ljubljana, Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenija

T. Tomaževič
Oddelek za otroško in preventivno zobozdravstvo, Stomatološka klinika, Klinični center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenija

Abstract

Chemotherapy is usually the first choice of treatment for cancer in children. Despite progress in the develop-ment of chemotherapy, there are still clinically important, sometimes therapy-limiting side effects, includ-ing inflammation of the oral mucosa (oral mucositis). This article presents a study that took place in the Department of Oncology and Haematology, University Children’s Hospital, Medical Centre Ljubljana, from August 2012 to July 2013. We aimed to examine the possibility of preventing oral mucositis with a solu-tion of calcium and phosphate (Caphosol ® (EUSA Pharma, Oxford, UK)). Eighteen patients (9 in the test and 9 in the control group) were enrolled. 16 patients (7 in the test, 9 in the control group) completed the study. Patients in the test group used a solution of calcium and phosphate in addition to the standardized protocol for oral care. The mean number of episodes of oral mucositis per patient in the test group was 0.9 ± 0.9 compared to 2.6 ± 1.7 in the control group. The differences in the number of episodes of oral mucositis per patient between the two groups were statistically significant (p = 0.023). Based on our results, it can be concluded that the number of episodes of oral mucositis in patients who rinsed the oral cavity with a solution of calcium and phosphate decreased significantly compared with the number of episodes in patients who did not use the solution.

Key words: cancer treatment, children, oral mucositis, solution of calcium and phosphate.