Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Apr 22;22(1):442.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-022-09539-8.

Oral cryotherapy for management of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis in haematopoietic cell transplantation: a systematic review

Faizah Jabr Alsulami  1 , Sadr Ul Shaheed  2
Affiliations

Oral cryotherapy for management of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis in haematopoietic cell transplantation: a systematic review

Faizah Jabr Alsulami et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Oral mucositis (OM) is known to be the most common and challenging side effect of conditioning chemotherapy in haematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). This side effect causes significant morbidity and may delay the treatment plan, as well as increase therapeutic expenses. There are few clinical trials in the literature that indicate any kind of treatment or prevention methods are effective. Therefore, the aim of this study is to perform a systematic review of literature and examine the effectiveness of oral cryotherapy (OC) in management of chemotherapy-induced OM in patients with haematological malignancies undergoing a HCT.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted, using the electronic databases PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE and Scopus. A total of 322 papers were identified and 9 papers were analysed based on defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality of the chosen primary studies was appraised using the COCHRANE risk of bias assessment tool.

Results: Nine randomized controlled trials, analysing 658 participants; control group (n = 289, age mean ± SD; 41.15 ± 21) and treatment group (n = 369, age mean ± SD; 39.15 ± 20), were included in this systematic review. Seven studies had significantly addressed the effectiveness of OC (p value < 0.05), in reducing the incidence of developing severe OM in the adult population undergoing HCT, especially when the conditioning regimen protocols included high dose of alkylating agent such as melphalan.

Conclusion: This review supports the use of OC for prevention of OM in patients undergoing HCT, with high-dose of melphalan conditioning protocols. It is recommended that more studies be conducted to compare efficacy and duration of OC with other chemotherapeutic agents with relatively short plasma half-lives. The heterogeneity of the trials demonstrated the need to regulate the validated assessment tools and similar interventions that would enable comparisons and analyses of treatment effects based on well-designed RCTs.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; Haematological malignancies; Haematopoietic cell transplantation; Oral cryotherapy; Oral mucositis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA workflow of the identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion of the studies in the systematic review
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bhatia S. Long-term health impacts of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation inform recommendations for follow-up. Expert Rev Hematol. 2011;4(4):437–452. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Granot N, Storb R. History of hematopoietic cell transplantation: challenges and progress. Haematologica. 2020;105(12):2716. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Passweg JR, Baldomero H, Chabannon C, Basak GW, De La Camara R, Corbacioglu S, et al. Hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapy survey of the EBMT: monitoring of activities and trends over 30 years. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2021;56(7):1651–1664. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nishimura KK, Barlogie B, van Rhee F, Zangari M, Walker BA, Rosenthal A, et al. Long-term outcomes after autologous stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma. Blood Adv. 2020;4(2):422–431. - PMC - PubMed
    1. BeTheMatch/NationalMarrowDonorProgram(NMDP) International Marrow Donor Registries Reach 25 Million Potential Donors, Give Hope to Searching Blood Cancer Patients Around the World. 2015.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources