Source: Myeloma – Hematology Advisor
Preventive photobiomodulation (PBM) appears to be more effective than a curative approach for mitigating the effects of oral mucositis (OM) among patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for multiple myeloma (MM), according to research published in Supportive Care in Cancer.
OM is associated with significant issues in this patient population, including systemic infection and consequent hospitalization. Moreover, this adverse event is associated with a significant amount of pain, and reduces patient quality of life.
PBM is increasingly becoming recognized as an effective strategy against OM, though protocols around PBM are not well established. For this retrospective study, researchers compared the safety and efficacy of curative vs preventive PBM against OM among patients with MM undergoing HSCT.
Overall, data from 24 patients were included, of whom 12 each received curative or preventive PBM. In the preventive and curative PBM groups, the mean ages were 59.3 and 55.9 years, respectively, 66.7% and 41.7% of patients were male gender, and transplantation engraftment rates were 100% and 100%. All patients developed OM.
Analysis showed that, after HSCT, preventive PBM was superior to curative PBM for reducing both OM severity and pain (both P <.0001). Patients in the preventive PBM group also reported lower rates of discomfort when swallowing, chewing, or speaking than did those in the curative PBM group. No adverse events deemed related to therapy were noted.
“With the limitation of the sample size, our results show how the timing for the beginning of PBM therapy in patients undergoing HSCT is crucial: when started on the first day of conditioning, it significantly reduces both pain and OM severity, providing an important benefit also in subjective oral functions such as speaking, swallowing, and chewing and increasing overall tolerance of the procedure,” the authors wrote in their report.