Effect of Low-Level Laser Therapy in Treatment of Chemotherapy Induced Oral Mucositis

Introduction: oral mucositis (om) is an unavoidable condition of the oral cavity that accompanies chemotherapy for various malignant cases. chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis (com) is a frequent complication due to mucotoxic drugs and is known to deteriorate the general health significantly, while negatively affecting the quality of life (qol). studies have reported that low-level laser therapy (lllt) promotes the tissue healing. the objective of the present study was to explore the efficacy of gallium-arsenide (gaas) laser in treating com and its impact on inflammatory cytokine levels in patients receiving chemotherapy for various malignancies. methods: a total of 80 patients with com received lllt 6 days/week. om was graded according to the world health organization (who) grading scale. the outcome parameters were the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (tnf-α) and interleukin-6 (il-6) measured before, during and after administration of lllt. results: after lllt, a significant decrease was found in the mean values of mucositis grade from 2.35 ± 0.695 to 1.13 ± 0.333 after (p < 0.001). a significant reduction in the level of tnf-α was found after lllt among breast cancer patients (p = 0.0045), but not in head and neck cancer and lymphoma patients. a significant reduction was also found in il-6 level after treatment among head and neck and breast cancer patients (p = 0.0307 and 0.019, respectively). conclusion: the use of gaas lllt in treating com in patients with various malignancies is well tolerated by patients, it results in improvement of mucositis, however; mechanism of action does not seem to be completely linked to the change of pro or anti-inflammatory cytokines.