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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · South Asian J Cancer 2018; 07(01): 46-48
DOI: 10.4103/sajc.sajc_144_17
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Head and Neck Cancer

Assessment of oral mucositis during concurrent chemoradiation of head and neck cancers using patient-reported measurement scale

Nallan CSK Chaitanya
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana
,
Arvind Muthukrishnan
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Indiaa
,
P. Karunakar
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana
,
Manchala Himani
Department of Radiation Oncology, MNJ Institute of Oncology and Research, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
,
Neeharika Satya Jyothi Allam
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Indiaa
,
Neha Jain
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences, Hyderabad, Telangana
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Introduction: Oral mucositis (OM) is a major challenge encountered in concurrent radiochemotherapy for the treatment of head and neck cancers. The patient reported OM symptoms scale (PROMS) was administered on these patients. The objective was to develop the similar scale in an Indian language and prescribe it population undergoing cancer treatment. Materials and Methods: PROMS scale was converted to Telugu language. Fifty-one patients took part in the study. All of them answered the 10-point questions marked their responses on 100 mm visual analog scale after thorough oral examination using WHO grading by the same examiner. Results: Internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha on PROMS scale was 0.81–0.97. The questionnaire study was administered on 35 males and 16 females with the mean age of 54.9 ± 11.8. The decrease in the total PROMS score was marked on day 35 in almost all patients, with a mean value of 34.04 ± 30.2 followed by a further significant decrease on day 60 (follow-up) with a mean of 3.71 ± 7.8. The PROMS scores correlated strongly with the clinician-rated OM scores during the first 35 weeks from the baseline at 0.84 with P < 0.01 and poor correlation was at day 60, i.e. 0.32 with P < 0.05 using Spearman's Rho correlation. Conclusion: The study showed a good correlation between patient-reported items and clinical score by standard grading scale. This questionnaire may not be a sole guide in assessing the severity of OM but could be definitely used as an adjunct to clinical oral examination at assessment levels.

Key words

Patient-reported oral mucositis symptoms - questionnaire - Telugu


Publication History

Article published online:
22 December 2020

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