Photobiomodulation for chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis in leukemic children: A randomized controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES: Evaluation of the effectiveness of Photobiomodulation(PBM) for chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis (OM) in leukemic children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized controlled clinical study including forty-four leukemic children diagnosed with chemotherapy-induced OM at the Hematology/Oncology inpatient unit at Alexandria University Children's Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt. Patients were randomly assigned to either the control or test groups with a 1:1 ratio. The control group received conventional symptomatic treatment, while the test group was treated with PBM in addition to the symptomatic treatment. The response to both treatment modalities was evaluated according to the reduction of pain and lesions severity from baseline to 5, 10, and 14 days after treatment. RESULTS: A significant reduction of pain was recorded on day 10 in the test group compared to the control group (p < 0.001). There was also a significant decline in the OM grades between the two groups on day14 (p = 0.003). No adverse events were reported. CONCLUSIONS: The use of PBM along with the conventional treatment was effective in reducing pain and in the recovery of OM lesions in children receiving chemotherapy for the treatment of ALL. It was also safe and applicable to children.

Screening for the hepatitis C virus in some dental clinics in Alexandria, Egypt.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Individuals can be exposed to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection through inadequately or improperly sterilized medical or dental equipment. The aim of this study was to detect HCV RNA in the dental setting in Alexandria, Egypt. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 100 samples collected from five dental clinics (A-E) in Alexandria. The samples were collected from critical, semicritical, and noncritical instruments during different periods of the day (morning, mid-day, end of the day). Samples were subjected to a reverse transcriptase-PCR for the detection of HCV RNA. RESULTS: HCV RNA was detected in 18% (18 out of 100) of the instrument samples tested. Two positive HCV RNA samples were collected from semicritical instruments in clinic B, whereas 16 positive HCV RNA samples were collected from clinic D (eight samples from critical, six samples from semicritical, and two samples from noncritical instruments). There was a statistically significant difference between clinics B and D in terms of the samples collected in the morning and those collected at the end of the day. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: HCV RNA as detected by PCR was found in a considerable percent of instruments' samples (18%). Most of the positive HCV RNA samples (16 out of 18 samples) obtained from instruments were among those collected from clinic D. This clinic used only glutaraldehyde as a method of sterilization. Therefore, proper infection control measures, including sterilization and disinfection should be strictly adopted.