Phototherapy With LED as an Effective Treatment for Chemotherapy-Induced Oral Mucositis in Hamsters

Oral mucositis (OM) has been considered one of the most feared collateral effects of oncological treatments. Some therapies have been used, such as light-emitting diode (LED), with promising results, but with no sufficient evidence in the literature.

Our study aimed to evaluate, by clinical and histological analysis, the effect of LED on the treatment of chemotherapy-induced OM (CIOM) in an animal model.

Twenty male hamsters were equally distributed to two groups: control (C), which received anesthesia and CIOM induction; and LED (L), which received anesthesia, CIOM induction, and LED treatment (635 nm, 120 mW, 0.48 J). The clinical analysis was performed through two specific scales for OM analysis on days 5, 7 and 10 of the experiment. In addition, the injured area of all hamsters check pouch mucosa was removed and processed for histological analysis on the last experimental day.

After statistical analysis, group L showed less severity of OM when compared with the C group (P < 0.05); beyond that, both healed completely on day 10.

Our results suggested that the phototherapy with LED had a positive effect on accelerating repair, reducing the severity of CIOM.