Treatment of Chemotherapy-Induced Oral Mucositis with Light-Emitting Diode

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of phototherapy with noncoherent light in the alleviation of chemotherapy-induced mucositis in patients with metastatic cancer. Background Data: Mucositis occurs in more than 40% of chemotherapy-treated patients, significantly reducing the quality of their lives. Many different interventions have been evaluated to reduce oral mucositis. Recently, good results have been achieved by phototherapy with photoradiation, a technique which has virtually no side effects. Some clinical results seem to indicate that also phototherapy through noncoherent light emissions which can be produced by less expensive light sources such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) may be effective. However, until now, no studies have been available on this subject. Methods: Twelve patients, aged from 34 to 82, selected on the basis of a diagnosis of chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis, were treated intra-orally through a noncoherent LED emission, wavelength 645 ± 15...