Assessment of Oral Mucositis among Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer: An Audit

Background Radiation-induced oral mucositis is one of the major ionizing radiation toxicities and normal tissue injuries resulting from radiotherapy. It occurs in up to 80% of head and neck cancer irradiated patients, reaching up to 100% in patients with altered fractionation. Objective To assess the grade of Radiation induced oral mucositis as per World Health Organization grading system among post-radiotherapy patients of Head and Neck cancer. Method World Health Organization grading for oral mucositis was done in patients reporting to Department of Radiation oncology for radiotherapy at BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur. A total of 71 patients in 1 month duration were included. Result Grade 2 mucositis was most common, 52.11% followed by grade 1 (22.5%), grade 3 (18.3%) and grade 4 (7.04%). There were no post-radiotherapy patients who presented without mucositis. Conclusion Radiation induced oral mucositis is a common adverse reaction of radiotherapy. With increase in dose and duration of radiotherapy, grade of mucositis was increasing.