Abstract
Oral mucositis (OM) is one of the main adverse events observed during the treatment of neoplasms, especially in relation to head and neck (H&N) cancer. Complications, initially non-infectious of OM, can significantly compromise the chosen therapy, extend the hospitalization period and decrease the quality of life of patients with H&N cancer. Therefore, the present work presents a narrative review that gathers, presents and discusses studies on the relationship between the topical application of chamomile-based pharmaceutical products and the treatment of oral mucositis, with an emphasis on its effectiveness. A literature search was conducted in August 2021 using PubMed, Scielo and LILACS. From literature search was identified 869 papers, of which 06 were selected to answer the guiding question of this study. Finally, it could be seen that chamomile has great potential to help manage OM, as well as other oral complications, especially in cases of patients undergoing H&N cancer treatments using radiotherapy. Furthermore, formulations containing chamomile have been shown to be effective in slowing the progression of OM grades. However, it is necessary to evaluate in each formulation, the possible impacts of each pharmaceutical adjuvant, as well as the adverse events capable of increasing pharmacotherapeutic adherence.
Highlights
Oral mucositis (OM) is one of the main adverse events observed during the treatment of neoplasms, especially in relation to head and neck (H&N) cancer
OM is associated with a set of adverse events that can limit the patient's ability to tolerate anticancer treatment if not properly managed
According to Almeida et al (2009), chamomile has therapeutic potential in relation to negative adverse events caused by RT and CT
Summary
Oral mucositis (OM) is one of the main adverse events observed during the treatment of neoplasms, especially in relation to head and neck (H&N) cancer It is an inflammatory response of the oropharyngeal mucosa, usually ulcerative and extremely painful, observed in patients undergoing both radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy (CT). The treatments in question are not specific and as such regions have high mitotic activity and high cell renewal rate, non-neoplastic cells are rapidly affected, both by radiation and by the cytotoxicity of the therapy. In this particular case, adverse events include OM, dermatitis, hyposalivation and xerostomia, rampant caries, pharyngitis, discomfort, osteoradionecrosis and trismus (Sari et al, 2014). Recent studies show that OM affects 20 % to 40 % of patients who receive conventional CT, over 80 % of those who receive high doses of CT, 100 % of patients with H&N cancer who receive RT plus 75 % to 100 % of patients with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) (Santos et al, 2011; Sari et al, 2014; Elad et al, 2020)
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