Evaluation of salivary flow in patients during head and neck radiotherapy.
Radiotherapy is frequently employed for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Among the side effects, xerostomia is one of the most important. With the objective of evaluating the role of radiotherapy in salivary flow, we performed three salivary sample collections: at the beginning of, during, and immediately after radiotherapy. The results showed that the salivary flow values of the first collection were very similar to those of the control group. However, during treatment, there was a significant decrease of the salivary flow (p = 0.0008), which continued low immediately after radiotherapy (p = 0.0009). Our study showed that radiotherapy leads to an important reduction of salivary flow during and after radiotherapy.
School of Dentistry, University of Alfenas, USA.
Paulo Rogério Ferreti
PR
Bonan
Fábio Ramoa
FR
Pires
Márcio Ajudarte
MA
Lopes
Osvaldo
O
Di Hipólito
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000528:radiation effects; D012472:Salivation / Q000528:radiation effects; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000209:etiology