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Oral Mucositis

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Abstract

Almost no patients that are undergoing radiation therapy of head and neck cancers can run away from radiation-induced oral mucositis, especially if the oral cavity is included in the treatment target. Trotti et al. have confirmed the high incidence of induced oral mucositis in a systematic review with rates of 97% during conventional radiation therapy, 100% during altered fractionation radiation therapy, and 89% during chemoradiation therapy [1]. In a retrospective study of 204 head and neck cancer patients that received radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy, oral mucositis occurred in 91% of patients; the rates of mucositis grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 4%, 21%, 60%, and 6%, respectively [2].

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Sourati, A., Ameri, A., Malekzadeh, M. (2017). Oral Mucositis. In: Acute Side Effects of Radiation Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55950-6_6

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