title: Laser therapy in the control of oral mucositis: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of Laser Therapy in the prevention of oral mucositis (OM) in patients undergoing oncotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  To this systematic review and meta-analysis a search was performed in MEDLINE, LILACS and Cochrane using the keywords "laser therapy" and "Oral mucostitis." The case-control studies included were submitted to odds ratio (OR) analysis, which the cut-off point for statistic calculation was OM grade > 3. We carried out a meta-analysis by BioEstat 5.0, using the Random Effect DerSimonian-Laird statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve (studies were included in this systematic review, and the meta-analysis of seven of them showed that LT in patients undergoing oncotherapy is approximately nine times more effective in the prevention of OM grade > 3 than in patients without laser treatment (OR: 9,5281, confidence interval 95% 1,447-52,0354, p=0,0093.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data demonstrated significant prophylatic effect of OM grade > 3 in patients undergoing LT. Further studies, with larger sample sizes, are needed for better evaluation of the prophylatic effect of OM grade > 3 by LT.
authors.affiliation: Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, Salvador, BA, Brasil.
authors.forename: André Luiz Peixoto
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Figueiredo
authors.forename: Liliane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lins
authors.forename: Ana Carolina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Cattony
authors.forename: Antônio Fernando Pereira
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Falcão
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D019337:Hematologic Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy; D013280:Stomatitis / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000532:radiotherapy
keywords: Laser terapia; Laser therapy; Meta-analysis; Metanálise; Mucosite oral; Oral mucositis; Prevention; Prevenção