Abstract

Effectiveness of oral mucositis (OM) pain control with the current standard of care management were assessed using clinician and self-reported scales in haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) patients. A prospective observational study was performed using clinician-assessed (World Health Organization-WHO) Oral Toxicity Scales and self-reported scales (Oral Mucositis Daily Questionnaires-OMDQ). A total of 23 HSCT patients were included in the study. There were 100-recorded-days of OM using WHO scores, and 144-recorded-days of OM using OMDQ. A total of 14/23 (60.9%) patients experienced mucositis. The presence of OM was significantly associated with increase in actual body weight (t(21)=2.15, p=0.044), body surface area (t(21)=2.31, p=0.031) and body mass index (t(21)=2.13, p=0.044), longer hospital stays (t(21)=2.45, p=0.023) and busulphan-based regimens (=4.32, p=0.038). The degree of pain relief was significantly inversely correlated to both the degree of WHO graded OM severity (ρ=-0.586; p

Key words: Mucositis, stem cell transplant, WHO oral toxicity scale, OMDQ, pain