Effect of ascorbic acid oral supplementation on oral mucositis during chemo radiation therapy of oro pharyngeal cancers

Abstract

There are various therapeutic interventions directed towards prevention newlineor reduction of oral mucositis. It is imperative that only few of them were newlinepartially successful and few unsuccessful in containing this reaction.Ascorbic newlineacid,with its wound healing and epithelium stabilizing properties can be newlineconsidered as an intervention for oral mucositis. High dose oral newlineadministration, with well-documented minimal side effects, affordable cost and newlinepatientand#8223;s compliance may favour its usage.Such intervention using ascorbic newlineacidis not available in open literature on oral mucositis.Hence, the present newlinestudy was taken up incorporating usage of high dose oral administration of newlineascorbic acid to prevent oral mucositis during cancer treatment. newlineZinc, systemically, has been approved for oral mucositis intervention newlineduring cancer chemo-radiotherapy.Emerging evidence demonstrated that zinc newlinecould effectively reduce oral mucositis in radiotherapy-subjected patients. Due newlineto paucity of literature on zinc intervention in concurrent chemo-radiotherapy, newlinethe present study was undertaken evaluating Zinc acetate orally on oral newlinemucositis prevention.Additionally, zinc and vitamin C combination could newlineeffectively reduce the incidence of oral mucositis,given their wound healing newlineproperties and anti-inflammatory properties. newlineAdditionally, ascorbic acid supplementation using zinc or without zinc newlinecombination may have effect on the haemoglobin percentage and neutrophil as well as lymphocyte counts. The supplementation may help in maintaining newlinethe counts of the WBC as well as prevent anemia by maintaining the Hb% newlinelevels which commonly appear deficient during cancer therapy by radiation or newlinechemotherapy. Also, the increase in the count of viable cells and decrease in newlinedead cells may emphasise the healing properties of these interventions. age. The zinc therapy in combination with vitamin C or newlinealone has shown significant change in the severity of oral mucositis, newlinedecreasing the scores related to the mucositis newline