Laser therapy in the control of oral mucositis: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of Laser Therapy in the prevention of oral mucositis (OM) in patients undergoing oncotherapy.

Methods: To this systematic review and meta-analysis a search was performed in MEDLINE, LILACS and Cochrane using the keywords "laser therapy" and "Oral mucostitis." The case-control studies included were submitted to odds ratio (OR) analysis, which the cut-off point for statistic calculation was OM grade > 3. We carried out a meta-analysis by BioEstat 5.0, using the Random Effect DerSimonian-Laird statistical analysis.

Results: Twelve (studies were included in this systematic review, and the meta-analysis of seven of them showed that LT in patients undergoing oncotherapy is approximately nine times more effective in the prevention of OM grade > 3 than in patients without laser treatment (OR: 9,5281, confidence interval 95% 1,447-52,0354, p=0,0093.

Conclusion: These data demonstrated significant prophylatic effect of OM grade > 3 in patients undergoing LT. Further studies, with larger sample sizes, are needed for better evaluation of the prophylatic effect of OM grade > 3 by LT.

Keywords: Laser terapia; Laser therapy; Meta-analysis; Metanálise; Mucosite oral; Oral mucositis; Prevention; Prevenção.