Prevention of oral mucositis due to 5-fluorouracil treatment with oral cryotherapy

Introduction: One of the most common and important side effects of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is mucositis with ulcerations in the oral cavity. We investigated the effects of local cryotherapy on mucositis incidence administrated during 5-FU treatment. Methods: In a total of 99 courses, 5-FU and folinic acid combination chemotherapy was given to 40 patients. In our study, we considered every course as a single case, and cryotherapy was given to the some patient in one course but not given in the next. Results: 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)=3.2-41.9; (p=0.001). Discussion: Results of initial studies evaluating the effects of cryotherapy in preventing mucositis due to 5-FU based chemotherapy regimens were promising. We concluded that oral cooling prevents 5-FU induced mucositis. This effective prophylactic treatment should be used in patients who are at increased risk for developing 5-FU induced mucositis.