The effect of using clove oil on oral mucositis healing among patients undergoing chemotherapy: A randomized control trial

Abstract

Almost all patients receiving high doses of chemotherapy (CT) experience chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis (CIOM), which causes the mucosal lining of the mouth to atrophy and break down, resulting in ulcers. Oral mucositis (OM) occurs in about 40 percent of patients with cancer who undergoing CT. Twenty patients undergoing CT they were diagnosed with OM were randomly enrolled in this true experimental study to determine the effect of using clove oil on OM healing. The study was conducted at Imam Al-Hussein Oncology Center and the oncology wards of Imam Al-Hassan Al-Mujtaba Teaching Hospital. The data were collected through the interviewing technique using WHO oral toxicity scale and OM assessment tool and then analyzed by using the program SPSS Version 25, both descriptive statistical analysis and inferential statistical analysis were used to analyze the study results. A total of 40% of patients had grade II and III oral toxicity at the pre-test period, after seven days of using the clove oil the result shows that 80% of patients are at grade I OM. Concerning the control group, 40% of patients have grade III OM when starting collecting data, but after seven days 60% of patients are at grade (IV), and there are significant statistical differences between pre and post seven days (p=0.025). In conclusions, mouth care using clove oil is potent and effective in decreasing the grade of OM and promoting OM healing of patients undergoing CT. The implementation of mouth care using clove oil is significantly enhancing and promotes OM healing and reduces OM grade. Recommendations: Further and future studies on a large sample size are needed for the evaluation of the efficacy of clove oil for their regular use in OM care to determine their effect on the healing level and grade of OM.