the effect of orally-administered zinc in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Background: oral mucositis is a frequent yet serious adverse event associated with chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia. although a wide spectrum of drugs has been tested for prophylaxis of oral mucositis, few of them are satisfactory. there is currently substantial clinical interest in zinc (zn) as an antioxidant and a protective agent against chemotherapy-related normal tissue injury. therefore, in the present study, we investigated whether zinc prevents oral mucositis associated with chemotherapy in patients with aml. methods: a total of 140 patients with aml were randomly selected and divided into two groups where the case groups received zinc sulfate 220 mg orally and the control groups received placeboes 3 times a day during their chemotherapy course. data were analyzed by spss version 15 software. mann-whitney u test was used to evaluate mucositis, and pain intensity. results: the incidence rates of mucositis were all markedly lower in oral zinc sulfate group than in control (p = 0.004). conclusions: zinc is available for preventing the complications of oral mucositis, and thus for improving patient quality of life.