Oral mucositis in radiation/chemotherapy: treatment similarities.

OM occurs in 85% of patients receiving head/neck irradiation alone and in 95% of head and neck cancer patients treated with chemoradiation. The incidence and severity of OM vary with different treatment regimens, but all patients with OM share the same pathogenesis: an interference with normal epithelial cell turnover, leading to direct and indirect destruction of the mucosal lining.[1–4] Subsequently, OM can be exacerbated by bacterial, mycotic, and viral infections, compounding the symptomatology. Two women diagnosed with different cancer sites (albeit both squamous cell in origin) began their oncology treatments with a high risk of developing OM.