Introduction and objective:

Cancer is the second leading cause of death among children and adolescents in Brazil. To evaluate the prevalence of oral toxicities resulting from cancer treatment in children and adolescents treated at the Hospital Estadual da Criança, from 2016 to 2017.

Material and methods:

This is a descriptive study with data obtained from medical records. Variables related to neoplasia, carrier, oral toxicities and cancer treatment were studied, which were analyzed descriptively and thFisher χ2 test was performed for some of them.

Results:

Fifty eigth patients were identified, mostly female (53%) and aged between 3 and 5 years (28%), with an average of 6.62 years. The most frequent neoplasm was acute lymphoid leukemia (38%), with chemotherapy alone being the most used therapeutic modality (67%), especially with the use of cytarabine (60%) and vincristine (56%). Twenty-three (40%) of the children and adolescents exhibited some oral toxicity during cancer therapy, and for this reason, 4 (17.4%) had their antineoplastic treatment interrupted. Oral mucositis (70%) was the most common toxicity, affecting the lips in 55% and being associated with pain in 64% of cases. Eighteen (78.2%) patients received treatment for oral toxicities, with nystatin being prescribed in 88.9% of cases. In addition, there was a significant association between survival status and place of residence (p=0.03).

Conclusions:

Among the 58 children and adolescents studied, 40% had oral toxicities and 4 had their antineoplastic treatment interrupted for this reason. Thus, the importance and the need for the performance of the dentist in the multidisciplinary team in oncology is reinforced.

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