Effect of ice compress before radiotherapy on the symptoms of oral mucositis in patients with nasoplaryngeal cancer

Objective To evaluate the effect of ice compress before radiotherapy on the symptoms of oral mucositis in patients with nasoplaryngeal cancer.Methods Eighty nasoplaryngeal cancer patients receiving first radiotherapy were randomly divided into two groups.The patients in the control group received routine treatment and nursing care.In addition,the patients in the experimental group received ice compress on the irradiation field skin 30 minutes before radiotherapy.When the oral mucositis occurred,firstly we dried the surface of oral mucositis with swabs,then sprayed recombinat human epidermal growth factor twice a day.The oropharyngeal samples were collected for microbiological monitoring seven days after radiotherapy.Results The symptoms of oral mucositis in the experimental group were obviously lighter than those of control group at the third and seventh week of radiotherapy,and one week after radiotherapy.The positive rate of throat swab bacteria culture in experimental group(17.5%) was significanlty lower than that of control group(37.5%).Conclusions Ice compress before radiotherapy can effectively prevent and relieve the symptoms of radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis,and reduce the incidence of oral cavity fungal infection.