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