Pacientes oncológicos e a enfermagem : relação entre grau de mucosite oral e a terapêutica implementada

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the oral mucositis in patients under oncological treatment. Method: This is a descriptive and exploratory study with a quantitative approach, which was performed with 50 patients in a philanthropic hospital in the city of Teresina/PI/Brazil, from August to October 2010. Results: The outcomes showed the prevalence of oral mucositis in males and in the age groups lesser than 17 and over 60 years. The most frequent oncological diagnoses were leukemias and aerodigestive route cancers, whose treatments were focused on chemoradiotherapy, by predominantly determining the grades 1 and 2 of oral mucositis. The most associated chemotherapic agents with the disease were: cisplatin, cytarabine, methotrexate, vincristine sulfate, etoposide, doxorubicin hydrochloride. Conclusion: It is concluded that there is a need of including the nursing in fostering the preventive and controlling actions towards the oral mucositis, in order to maintain the welfare, therapeutic response optimization and improvement of the life quality of the oncological patient.