Effect of Low-level Laser Therapy on Salivary Flow, pH and Quality of Life in Irradiated Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients

Plain-language summary

There are multiple treatment modalities for head and neck cancer. They include radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery. Radiation therapy aims to control the tumor with minimum damage to adjacent tissues. Surgery is the preferred treatment for accessible cancers. Radiation and/or chemotherapy is used as an adjunct to surgery, in inaccessible tumors, post surgery sterilization and palliation. A major complication of RT is that adjacent normal tissues are variably affected. For Oropharyngeal cancer, major and minor salivary glands are damaged by RT since they fall in the radiation pathway. Atrophy and acinar degeneration are features most commonly found histologically. Xerostomia is defined as dry mouth resulting from reduced or absent saliva flow. Xerostomia is not a disease, but may be a symptom of various medical conditions, a side effect of a wide variety of medications and a side effect of a radiation to the head and neck.The flow rate of normal unstimulated saliva is 0.3-0.5 ml/min. If it decreases to less than 0.1-0.2 ml/min, one would experience xerostomia. According to researchers, the decrease in saliva and xerostomia that results from radiotherapy plays an important role in worsening Quality of Life(QoL) among patients who undergo radiotherapy for head and neck cancers. Low level laser Therapy(LLLT) uses light energy in the form of photons to produce cellular responses in the cell. Light photons are absorbed by cytochromes and porphyrins in the mitochondria of the cell. This study aims to prove that Low level laser therapy will improve salivary flow rate, pH and the quality of life in patients who have undergone Radiation therapy for oropharyngeal cancers.

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