Alteraciones en la cavidad bucal de pacientes sometidos a radioterapia.

Abstract

Radiotherapy is based on the use of ionizing radiation to destroy cancer cells and thus prevent them from growing and multiplying. However, it also affects adjacent normal tissues. At the level of the oral cavity, it can have consequences that affect the quality of life of patients. The objective was to describe the alterations in the oral cavity of patients undergoing radiotherapy. A systematic review was carried out in which 20 articles published from 2017 onwards were included. The main and most serious alterations that can occur in the oral cavity of patients undergoing radiotherapy are oral mucositis, osteoradionecrosis, and xerostomia. Symptoms of radiation-induced mucositis include severe pain, dysphagia, anorexia, and slurred speech; there is also bleeding, erythema, ulceration, and necrosis. In xerostomia there is a decrease in flow rate and changes in salivary composition which causes oral discomfort, an increased risk of dental caries, difficulty speaking, oral infection, dysphagia and has a detrimental effect on the patient's quality of life. At the histological level there is compensatory hyperplasia to maintain its function. Osteoradionecrosis is a condition of nonvital bone at a site of radiation injury that may present with hypovascularity, hypocellularity, and local tissue hypoxia. There may be intractable pain, cortical perforation, fistula formation, superficial ulceration, and pathologic fracture.