The role of sucralfate oral suspension in prevention of radiation induced mucositis

BACKGROUND: Mucositis is one of the most common complications of radiotherapy in head and neck cancers. The aim of this study was to evaluate sucralfate mouthwash in prevention of radiation induced mucositis. METHODS: A clinical randomized trial performed on 52 patients with head and neck cancers in Sayyed-Al-Shohada Hospital of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. These patients randomly assigned in 2 groups of 26 patients. Placebo and sucralfate was used for control and experimental patients respectively, from the beginning of radiotherapy. Patients were visited weekly until the end of treatment. Grade of the mucositis was evaluated according to WHO grading scale. RESULTS: Sucralfate significantly reduced the mean grade of mucositis in weeks one to four (with P-values of 0.02, 0.02, 0.001 and 0.004, respectively). Development of grade3 mucositis was also lower in sucralfate group (P-value = 0.0001). But, time interval between radiotherapy and appearance of mucositis was not statistically different in the two groups (P-value = 0.9) CONCLUSIONS: This study indicated that using oral suspension of sucralfate reduced the grade of radiation-induced mucositis, but did not prevent or delay it.