The Effect of Oral Care Protocol on Prevention of Oral Mucositis in Pediatric Cancer Patients

The study conducted as a randomized controlled trial with a parallel design with two groups; Study group/ Oral care protocol with saline solution Control group/ Oral care protocol with sodium bicarbonate solution

Study Hypothesis; There is a difference in oral mucositis (OM) between groups. There is a difference in the degree of OM between groups. There is a difference in the OM recovery time between groups. There is a difference in demographic variables in patients with and without mucositis.

The study sample was comprised of 43 children with cancer aged 1-17 years, received chemotherapy for ≥3 days at inpatient clinics, and whose families agreed to their participation in the study. Patients excluded who have oral ulceration or mucositis, taking any antiviral or antifungal therapy for OM before enrollment in the study. This trial was a triple blinded which the patients/parents, nurses, and the investigators have no idea about the groups.

In the study, patients were allocated by the blocked randomization. After naturally separating the gender variable into 2 layers, the age was divided into 5 layers as "<1 year, 1-3 years,>3-6 years, 6-12 years,>12 years", and the diagnosis variable was divided into 3 layers as "ALL, AML and oncological tumors."

Socio-Demographic Data Collection Form, International Child Mucositis Rating Scale (CHIMES), and Mucositis Follow-up Form used.