Oral involvement in chronic graft versus host disease: a prospective study of 19 Brazilian patients

Chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) is the most common late complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. The oral cavity is the most common site of cGVHD involvement. This study sought to investigate the incidence of oral cGVHD, as well as the disease's impact on a patient's quality of life and the kind of lesions that resulted. Nineteen patients with cGVHD received a medical and dental evaluation; 18 (94.7%) had oral lesions. Nine patients (47.3%) demonstrated xerostomia and 6 (35.2%) demonstrated dysphagia. Six patients (35.2%) had a lichenoid clinical form of cGVHD in the oral cavity, 6 (35.2%) had an atrophic-ulcerative clinical form, 3 (17.6%) had a hyperceratotic clinical form, and 2 (10.5%) had mixed forms. The results demonstrated predominance of lichenoid and ulcerative-atrophic forms with similar incidence of these lesions. No factor that could contribute to the severity of cGVHD oral lesions was found.