Ricerc@Sapienza

The aim of the study was to observe the eectiveness of a photo-biomodulation (PBM)
protocol for the prevention of oral mucositis (OM) in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic
stem cell transplantation (aHSCT). A case-control study was conducted on 40 patients undergoing
aHSCT. The patients were divided into two groups; the preventive group (PG) included 20 patients
(7 females and 13 males) who were subjected to intra-oral PBM for five sessions a week, starting one
day before the conditioning regimen and continuing until the 10th day after transplantation (D+10).
In each session, ten points on the at-risk mucosal surfaces were irradiated using a double diode
laser that emits two wavelengths simultaneously at 650 nm and at 904–910 nm with the following
parameters at each point: energy of 4 J, and power of 88.9 mW. The control group (CG) included
20 patients (10 females and 10 males) who were not subjected to laser therapy and were selected
retrospectively to compare the obtained results. For all patients, OM was assessed by the World
Health Organization (WHO) grading scale. Eight patients in the PG did not experience OM during
their hospitalization period (with grade 0). Severe OM was observed in 40% of the patients in the
PG, while in the CG, severe OM was shown in 85% of the patients. The mean duration of OM in the
PG was significantly lower than that of CG (4.7 days in the PG and 15 days in the CG) (p < 0.001).
The study demonstrated that the preventive PBM protocol reduced the severity and duration of OM
in patients undergoing aHSCT.