Smoking cessation interventions in patients diagnosed with head and neck cancers: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Objective: According to findings from the previous studies, quitting smoking can significantly reduce mortality from all causes and is linked to better treatment results. Even though quitting smoking has many benefits, little is known about the evidence supporting the particular quit services offered to smokers after a cancer diagnosis. Methods: To find the articles related to area in question, different electronic databases including PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar, and EBSCO were searched on April 1st, 2023. All full text randomized controlled trials with one or more intervention and control groups that assessed the outcomes of smoking cessation interventions were included. Participants of included studies were adults diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC) and current smokers or those who had recently quit. There were interventions (pharmacological and/or pharmacological) that aimed to help patients with HNC succeed in quitting smoking. Results: We identified 15352 papers from the initial search from different electronic databases, 2560 remained after excluding duplicates. After screening titles and abstracts for relevance, 2345 articles were removed. Full text articles of remaining 215 papers were assessed in depth by two reviewers for their eligibility, amongst which, 210 articles were excluded. Finally, we included five papers that met the inclusion criteria in the present systematic review. Conclusion: According to the findings of this review, a multi - component strategy might very well benefit patients with HNC who smoke cigarettes after diagnosis. More studies with high methodological quality and standardized outcome measures must be conducted in this population to inform the development of smoking cessation program.

Prevalence of Trismus and Its Impact on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients Treated for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most common malignancies, has a poor prognosis due to impairment in oral functions secondary to treatment. Trismus one of the major causes of impairment of oral function. The present study investigated the prevalence of trismus and its impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in patients treated for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The maximum inter-incisal mouth opening of hundred OSCC patients was recorded at post-treatment and 3 months post-treatment. OHRQoL questionnaire (OHIP-14) was intervened to assess the OHRQoL of patients post-treatment and 3 months follow-up, with emphasis on correlation with grades of trismus. The prevalence of trismus was 16% pre-treatment, 72% post-treatment, and 62% at 3 months after treatment. The overall OHIP-14 scores indicated that patients with trismus reported greater impairment of OHRQoL than those without trismus at the end of treatment and 3 months follow-up. At the end of treatment, patients with severe trismus demonstrated a higher mean OHIP-14 score (23.47 ±3.34) than those with moderate (17.72 ±2.83) and mild trismus (12.66 ±3.84) with statistically significant differences (p <0.001). Equivalent results were obtained at 3 months follow-up period. Patients with trismus suffer greater impairment of OHRQoL. The findings demand the need of identifying risk factors for developing trismus and early institution of newer/modified treatment approaches for better OHRQoL in OSCC survivors.
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Oral Psychosomatic Disorders in Family Caregivers of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the oral psychosomatic disorders (PSDs) in family caregivers (FCs) of oral cancer (OC) patients and to evaluate the correlation between these oral PSDs to severity of depression anxiety and stress. METHODS: A total of 50 participants were included each in first degree relative (FDR), second degree relative (SDR) and control group. All the participants completed DASS-21 questionnaire and were subjected to thorough clinical history and oral examination. RESULTS: All the FCs reported statistically significant higher mean levels of depression, anxiety and stress compared to controls (p˂0.001). A significantly greater number of FCs (40.00%) reported oral PSDs than control group (12.00%). Most prevalent oral PSD in FCs was aphthous stomatitis followed by oral lichen planus, bruxism, burning mouth syndrome and myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome. Moreover, there was a preponderance of these diseases in FDR (60.86%) compared to SDR (26.08%). FCs with moderate to very severe depression, anxiety and stress showed higher prevalence of these oral PSDs compared to the ones with mild depression, anxiety and stress. CONCLUSION: The observations of higher prevalence of oral PSDs in FCs with psychological alterations can enhance healthcare professionals' awareness to better understand FCs' oral healthcare needs.
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Oral and general health-related quality of life in oral squamous cell carcinoma patients- comparative analysis of different treatment regims.

BACKGROUND: Modern aggressive oncological treatment options for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are inevitably associated with impaired general health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and oral HRQoL (OHRQoL). However, there is dire need for prospective and concomitant assessment of HRQoL and OHRQoL after different treatment regims. Hence, present study was designed to investigate HRQoL and OHRQoL in patients treated for OSCC using various modalities. METHODS: 135 OSCC patients were grouped according to treatment rendered into Group A: surgery only; Group B: post-surgical radiotherapy (PRT); and Group C: post-surgical chemo-radiation (PCRT). The 12-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) and Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) were intervened to assess HRQoL and OHRQoL respectively at 1-month and 6-months post-treatment. RESULTS: At 1-month post-treatment, patients who received PCRT showed significantly lower mean values for physical and mental domains of SF-12 and higher mean subscales and overall OHIP-14 (24.57 â€‹± â€‹2.62) score than those treated by surgery alone (10.55 â€‹± â€‹2.26) and PRT (20.20 â€‹± â€‹3.80), with largest differences between PCRT and surgery alone groups (p â€‹< â€‹0.001). Social functioning, general health and bodily pain of SF-12 and functional limitations, physical pain and physical disability amongst OHIP-14 domains were greatly affected. Although few physical domains of SF-12 showed significant improvement, mental domains remained a greater problem after 6 months. However, OHRQoL was significantly poor in all the three study groups (p â€‹< â€‹0.001). CONCLUSION: Irrespective of the post-treatment duration, patients who received PCRT had worse HRQoL and OHRQoL. There is a need to identify factors associated with impaired HRQoL and OHRQoL to customize better therapeutic decisions.

Clinical efficacy of mouth exercising devices in oral submucous fibrosis: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The management of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is primarily focused towards minimizing patient's symptoms and to prevent cancer development. Mouth exercise physiotherapy independently or in combination with other modalities is considered to be a mainstay for increasing the mouth opening (MO). The present systematic review was performed to identify different mouth exercising devices (MEDs) used and to provide detailed information on the fabrication and clinical efficacy of these devices among OSF patients. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and CINAHL were searched for relevant literature until February 2019 and the information was extracted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. All full text papers describing use of MED in OSF patients were considered eligible. RESULTS: Initial search resulted in 88 hits. After removing duplicates and screening of titles and abstracts, five papers that met the inclusion criteria were included. We identified five MEDs used for increasing the MO in OSF patients. Only one study administered additional treatment with topical steroids, oral antioxidants and ice-cream stick regime. The follow-up across studies ranged from 8 weeks to 6 months. Majority of the studies reported significant improvement in the MO without any relapse and side effects. CONCLUSIONS: MED could play an important role in the management of OSF. Limited researches in this area suggest a dire need for the further investigations using randomized controlled trials.

Fibrolipoma of buccal mucosa.

The lipoma is a very common benign tumor of adipose tissue, but its presence in the oral and oropharyngeal region is relatively uncommon. Fibrolipoma, a histological variant of lipoma, mostly affect the buccal mucosa and causes functional and cosmetic disabilities. Hence, accurate histopathological examination of lipomas is important for a correct treatment plan. This article describes a case of 10 year old girl with fibrolipoma of the buccal mucosa with a relevant review of tumors.