[Preventive effect of polaprezinc suspension dispersed in sodium alginate solution (P-AG) for stomatitis induced by Docetaxel/Cisplatin/Fluorouracil (DCF) chemotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer].

We measured the effectiveness of the prophylactic administration of a polaprezinc suspension dispersed in sodium alginate solution (P-AG) by dividing it into two courses in the same patients, and measured the stomatitis induced by Docetaxel/Cisplatin/Fluorouracil (DCF) chemotherapy. We then evaluated the results. We defined the therapeutic course as the course where P-AG was given therapeutically for stomatitis induced after DCF chemotherapy. We defined the prophylactic course as when P-AG was prophylactically given before any incidences of stomatitis after the therapeutic course. We compared the incidences of stomatitis in the prophylactic courses with those of the therapeutic courses. The incidences of stomatitis that were higher than Grade 1 were 17 out of 17 patients (100%) in the therapeutic course. On the other hand, they were 15 out of 17 patients (88. 2%) in the prophylactic course. Compared with the mean of the Grade of Stomatitis by the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3. 0 (CTCAE v. 3. 0), the maximal Grade of stomatitis significantly decreased in the prophylactic courses compared to those of the therapeutic courses(p<0. 05). Therefore, these results suggested that we were able to decrease the severity of stomatitis by using P-AG prophylactically, as opposed to using P-AG therapeutically.