Effects of dioctahedral smectite gargle combined with multi-channel nursing on preventing oral ulcer among cancer patients after chemotherapy

Objective To explore the effects of dioctahedral smectite gargle combined with multi-channel nursing on preventing oral ulcer among cancer patients after chemotherapy. Methods From June 2017 to June 2018, we selected 80 patients with vein chemotherapy in medical oncology at the Ningbo Second Hospital of Zhejiang Province by convenience sampling. All of the patients were divided into control group and experimental group with the method of random number table, 40 cases in each group. At the beginning of chemotherapy, control group carried out routine mouth care with the warm boiled water, while experimental group implemented dioctahedral smectite gargle combined with multi-channel nursing. Finally, we compared the incidence and severity of oral ulcer within 7 days after chemotherapy between two groups. Results The total incidence of oral ulcer of control group and experimental group was 32.5% (13/40) and 5.0% (2/40) respectively with a statistical difference (χ2=9.928, P=0.002) . There were 11 cases (the incidence was 27.5%) with Ⅰ to Ⅱ level of oral ulcer and 2 cases (the incidence was 5.0%) with Ⅲ to Ⅳ level of oral ulcer in control group. There were 2 cases (the incidence was 5.0%) with Ⅰ to Ⅱ level of oral ulcer and was no case with Ⅲ to Ⅳ level of oral ulcer in experimental group. Conclusions Dioctahedral smectite gargle combined with multi-channel nursing can reduce the incidence of oral ulcer among cancer patients after chemotherapy and reduce the severity of oral ulcer. This plan is simple and effective which is suitable for clinical application. Key words: Neoplasms; Patients; Nursing care; Dioctahedral smectite; Drug therapy; Oral ulcer