A Comparative Study of Carboxymethylcellulose and Enzyme-Containing

Abstract

Objective:  To compare short-term effects of two commercially available saliva substitutes, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) based preparation and enzyme-containing saliva substitute, on xerostomiarelated quality of life (QoL) in postradiation head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. Method: Fifty HNC patients with xerostomia whose self-rated xerostmia VAS score of  ≥ 50 mm were blinded and randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either CMC based (CMC group) or enzyme-containing saliva substitute (ENZ group), each for 14 days. A xerostomia questionnaire was used to evaluate self-rated xerostomia-related QoL. ANCOVA was used to compare response differences adjusting for baseline differences. Chi-square statistics were used to test categorical parameters between groups. P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant.  Results: After treatment, mean VAS scores of xerostomia severity in CMC and ENZ groups were 50.1 and 52.1 mm, respectively (P–value = 0.87). Proportions of patients reporting a “response” or “major improvement” from baseline in each of all individual QoL questions, and in other clinical acceptance were comparable between groups.  Conclusion: No significant difference on xerostomia-related QoL was observed between CMC based and enzyme-containing saliva substitute usage in HNC patients with xerostomia.  Keywords: xerostomia, radiation, carboxymethylcellulose, saliva substitute, quality of life