Abstract
Background and Objective
Mucositis is the most common oral complication of cancer chemotherapy, which causes pain on mastication and swallowing, impairs patients' ability to eat and take oral drugs and may determine interruption of the treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of lightโemitting diode (LED) therapy on chemotherapyโinduced mucositis in hamsters.
Study Design/Materials and Methods
Animals of both experimental (Group I; nโ=โ32) and positive control (Group II; nโ=โ32) groups received intraperitoneal injections of 5โfluorouracil on days 0 and 2. All animals had their right and left cheek pouch irritated by superficial scratching on days 3 and 4. In Group I, LED irradiation (630 nmยฑ10 nm, 160 mW, 12 J/cm^2^) was applied during 37.5 seconds at days 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14. In Group II, mucositis was induced, but LED therapy was not performed. The oral mucosa was photographed from day 4 to 14 at 2โday intervals. Photographs were randomly scored according to the severity of induced mucositis (0 to 5). In the negative control group (Group III; nโ=โ6), no mucositis was induced. Biopsies of the cheek pouches of 8 animals (Group I and Group II) were surgically obtained on days 5, 9, 13 and 15 and processed for histological examination.
Results
The statistical analysis showed significant differences between irradiated and nonโirradiated groups (P<0.05). However, muscular degeneration was observed in 18% of the samples of Group I.
Conclusion
It may be concluded that the LED therapy protocol established for this in vivo study was effective in reducing the severity of oral mucositis, although the oral lesions were not completely prevented. Lesers Surg. Med. 40:625โ633, 2008. ยฉ 2008 WileyโLiss, Inc.