Suzuki, A., Kobayashi, R., Shakui, T., Kubota, Y., Fukita, M., Kuze, B., . . . Itoh, Y. (2016). Effect of polaprezinc on oral mucositis, irradiation period, and time to discharge in patients with head and neck cancer. Head and Neck, 38, 1387–1392.
To determine whether polaprezinc suspension in sodium alginate (P-AG) reduces the irradiation period and time to discharge after completion of radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer and improves the overall survival in patients with head and neck cancer who received radiotherapy
The incidence of grade 3 OM was significantly lower in the P-AG group than in the control group (16.5% versus 52%, p = 0.0003). P-AG also significantly reduced the median duration of radiotherapy (HR = 0.557, 95% CI [0.357, 0.871], p = 0.0149) and median time to discharge after completion of radiotherapy (HR = 0.604, 95% CI [0.386, 0.946], p = 0.028).
P-AG was useful for preventing OM and reducing the irradiation period and median time to discharge after the completion of radiotherapy.
Randomized and multi-institutional designs are needed to clarify the beneficial effect of P-AG on the incidence of OM and hospitalization.