II. EURASIA INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF HEALTH SCIENCES
EVIDENCE-BASED NONPHARMACOLOGICAL INTERVENTIONS FOR ORAL MUCOSITIS IN CHILDREN RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY
Yayıncı:
Liberty Publications
Treatment and care of childhood cancers requires a multidisciplinary approach and chemotherapy forms the basis of this treatment. The aim of chemotherapy is to prevent the division of rapidly proliferating cancer cells. While preventing this division, chemotherapy also negatively affects healthy cells of the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow and hair follicles along with the dividing malignant cells and causes many undesirable side effects. One of the most important side effects is oral mucositis. Mucositis is defined as the development of inflammation in the mucous membranes of the entire gastrointestinal tract after the initiation of chemotherapy. Inflammation, which is more common in oral mucosa and called stomatitis, causes oral problems and other system problems. This may cause nutritional problems and negatively affect the growth and development process. Therefore, in addition to treatment protocols for the prevention of oral mucositis that may occur during chemotherapy treatment, it is important and necessary to support it with evidence-based nonpharmacologic interventions. This systematic review was conducted to determine the interventions that have been applied and evaluated for their effectiveness regarding the oral mucositis symptoms of chemotherapy on children. Eight electronic databases including Google Scholar, National Thesis Center, Medline, Web of Science, Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct and Cochrane library were searched between 2017 and 2024. The databases were systematically searched with the keywords “chemotherapy”, “pediatric”, “evidence-based practice” and “oral moccusitis” in Turkish and English. The full-text articles that were applied for the management of oral mucositis symptoms of children receiving chemotherapy treatment, in which the effectiveness of the application was evaluated, systematic review and meta-analysis reports were created, and the full text of which could be accessed were included in the review. As a result of the reviews, 28 randomized controlled or other experimental study reports that met the inclusion criteria constituted the sample of the review. According to the results obtained from the reviews, oral curcumin, chlorhexidine, honey, ice, olive oil, clove oil, black mulberry syrup, gum, laser therapy, cryotherapy, photobiomodulation supportive interventions were found to be effective in reducing the symptoms of oral mucositis. There is also evidence that continuous and regular education of caregivers on the prevention of oral mucositis is effective in the management of oral mucositis. The results of this study provide evidence that some nonpharmacologic interventions can reduce the severity of oral symptoms in children and support the feeding process. The use and development of such interventions in the care of children receiving chemotherapy treatment will be effective in improving the quality of care
