title: A morphometric study of the protective effect of cryotherapy on oral mucositis in cancer patients treated with 5-fluorouracil.
abstract: We investigated cytological changes in oral mucosa smears from patients treated with cryotherapy to determine whether cryotherapy prevented mucositis caused by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) therapy. Patients with gastrointestinal malignancies were divided into four groups; control patients before 5-FU therapy, patients after 5-FU therapy without cryotherapy, patients with cryotherapy before 5-FU therapy and patients with cryotherapy after 5-FU therapy. Oral mucosa samples from all patients were assessed at the beginning and on day 14 of chemotherapy. We used exfoliative cytology to evaluate cellular changes in the oral mucosa that were caused by 5-FU. Smears from each patient were stained using the Papanicolaou method and analyzed using stereology. Smears were taken from each group before and after 5-FU infusion. We found that nuclear volume was decreased significantly in cells of the 5-FU therapy after cryotherapy patients compared to the 5-FU therapy before cryotherapy patients. We also found significantly decreased cytoplasmic volumes in the 5-FU therapy after cryotherapy patients compared to the 5-FU therapy before cryotherapy patients. The results of cytomorphometric estimations revealed that cryotherapy may be used to prevent damage to oral tissue and may decrease the frequency and duration of oral mucositis caused by 5-FU.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medical Oncology , School of Medicine, Ataturk University , Erzurum , Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turkeli
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medical Oncology , School of Medicine, Ataturk University , Erzurum , Turkey.
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Aldemir
authors.affiliation: b Department of Otorhinolaryngology , Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital , Erzurum , Turkey.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bingol
authors.affiliation: c Department of Internal Medicine , School of Medicine, Ataturk University , Erzurum , Turkey.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.affiliation: d Department of Histology and Embryology , School of Veterinary Medicine, Atatürk University , Erzurum , Turkey.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017679:Cryotherapy; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013280:Stomatitis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D005472:Fluorouracil
keywords: 5-fluorouracil; cancer; cryotherapy; exfoliative cytology; morphometry; oral mucositis; quantification