title: Treatment of oral mucositis due to chemotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The management of oral mucositis is a challenge, due to its complex biological nature. Over the last 10 years, different strategies have been developed for the management of oral mucositis caused by chemotherapy in cancer patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  An exhaustive search was made of the PubMed-Medline, Cochrane Library and Scopus databases, crossing the key words "oral mucositis", "prevention" and "treatment" with the terms "chemotherapy" and "radiotherapy" by means of the boolean operators "AND" and "NOT". A total of 268 articles were obtained, of which 96 met the inclusion criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several interventions for the prevention of oral mucositis, such as oral hygiene protocols, amifostine, benzidamine, calcium phosphate, cryotherapy and iseganan, among others, were found to yield only limited benefits. Other studies have reported a decrease in the appearance and severity of mucositis with the use of cytoprotectors (sucralfate, oral glutamine, hyaluronic acid), growth factors, topical polyvinylpyrrolidone, and low power laser irradiation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Very few interventions of confirmed efficacy are available for the management of oral mucositis due to chemotherapy. However, according to the reviewed literature, the use of palifermin, cryotherapy and low power laser offers benefits, reducing the incidence and severity of oral mucositis - though further studies are needed to confirm the results obtained.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Chemotherapy-Induced Oral Mucositis Treatment.
authors.affiliation: DDS. Stomatology Department, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Begonya
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chaveli-López
authors.affiliation: MD, DDS, PhD. Head of the Department of Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery. Chairman of Oral Medicine. University of Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: José V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Bagán-Sebastián