Oral manifestations, microbial study and salivary IgA study in lymphoma patients receiving chemotherapy

Abstract

Background: Lymphoma is a general term that includes 40 different sub-types of the disease. These can be dividedinto two main types: Hodgkin Lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Lymphomas are a cancer of white cellsproduced by the bone marrow and matured in the lymphatic system. The cancer may originate in the lymph glandsor organs such as the liver, spleen, bowel or bone marrow. The aims were to determine the prevalence of oralmanifestations in lymphoma patients, isolate and identify different microorganism (aerobic, anaerobic and fungi),from oral micro flora from lymphoma patients under chemotherapy and detect the level of salivary IgA incomparison with healthy control.Subjects, materials and methods: The study included 52 lymphoma patients (17 Hodgkin’s and 35 Non Hodgkin’s) ofboth sexes (27 male and 25 female) those patients were matched in age and sex with 15 healthy control subjects.Results: The most frequent oral manifestations in the lymphoma patients in this study was taste alteration (52.2%),burning mouth sensation (37.3%), dry mouth (37.3%), halitosis (16.4%) and (7.5%) white coated tongue respectively.Various species of bacteria were isolated; the main bacteria isolated were streptococcus viridians, Neisseria,Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus albus, Pseudomonas, Actinomyces, Lactobacillus, Klebsiella, andEscherichia-coli and anaerobic bacteria such as Peptostreptococcus and Bacillus. Fungi such as Candida albicanswere also identified. Level of Salivary IgA was significantly decreased in lymphoma patients under treatment incomparison to healthy control.Conclusions: The finding of this study shows obvious differences in the prevalence of micro-organisms betweenlymphoma patients and healthy control. The most frequent oral manifestations in lymphoma patients were tastealterations, xerostomia, and burning mouth sensation.A significant decreased in level of salivary IgA was noticed in all lymphoma patients.It is highly recommended that all patients to have thorough dental examination before starting treatment