LED phototherapy to prevent mucositis: a case report.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this case report was to evaluate the efficacy of phototherapy using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to prevent oral mucositis in a Hodgkin's disease patient treated with the ABVD (doxorubicin [Adriamycin], bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine) chemotherapy regimen.


BACKGROUND
Mucositis is a common dose-limiting complication of cancer treatment, and if severe it can lead to alterations in treatment planning or suspension of cancer therapy, with serious consequences for tumor response and survival. Therefore, low-power lasers and more recently LEDs, have been used for oral mucositis prevention and management, with good results.


METHODS
In this study, a 34-year-old man received intraoral irradiation with an infrared LED array (880 nm, 3.6 J/cm2, 74 mW) for five consecutive days, starting on chemotherapy day 1. In each chemotherapy cycle, he received the ABVD protocol on days 1 and 15, and received LED treatment for 5 d during each cycle. To analyze the results, the World Health Organization (WHO) scale was used to grade his mucositis, and a visual analogue scale (VAS) was used for pain evaluation, on days 1, 3, 7, 10, and 13 post-chemotherapy.


RESULTS
The results showed that the patient did not develop oral mucositis during the five chemotherapy cycles, and he had no pain symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
LED therapy was a safe and effective method for preventing oral mucositis in this case report. However, further randomized studies with more patients are needed to prove the efficacy of this method.
Lang-Bicudo
Leticia
L
Mestre Profissional em Lasers em Odontologia IPEN/USP, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. leticialang@hotmail.com
Eduardo
Fernanda De Paula
Fde P
Eduardo
Carlos De Paula
Cde P
Zezell
Denise Maria
DM
D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001761:Bleomycin / Q000009:adverse effects; D003606:Dacarbazine / Q000009:adverse effects; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000009:adverse effects; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010789:Phototherapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D013280:Stomatitis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000009:adverse effects
D001761:Bleomycin; D014747:Vinblastine; D003606:Dacarbazine; D004317:Doxorubicin