Efetividade da laserterapia na prevenção da mucosite oral em pacientes sob quimiorradioterapia para o tratamento de cânceres de cabeça e pescoço: revisão sistemática e meta-análise

Abstract

Introduction: Oral mucositis is a frequent disease and a debilitating inflammatory complication in patients with head and neck neoplasms, which can lead to unplanned treatment interruptions due to severe pain and dysphagia. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy in the occurrence probability reduction of oral mucositis in patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy for the treatment of head and neck cancers. Materials and method: Searches for controlled clinical trials were performed until June 2022 in the following databases: MEDLINE via PubMed, Cochrane Central, Scopus, Lilacs, ISI Web of Science and SIGLE via Open Grey. Results: From 18924 records, four studies were included in the review, and, among them, three studies had outcomes assessed by meta-analysis. Data from 500 patients (mean age 53.60 and 54.14 for the intervention and control groups, respectively) were analyzed. The meta-analysis showed that laser therapy prevented the occurrence of oral mucositis in 28% and 23% of cases during the third and fourth weeks of follow-up, respectively, compared to a placebo-treated control group. There was no statistically significant difference in pain prevention; dysphagia and quality of life were not analyzed due to lack of data. Conclusion: Laser therapy was effective in preventing oral mucositis from the 15th to the 45th day of chemoradiotherapy. However, new primary studies with low risk of bias are needed so that more scientific evidence can be obtained.