Modified Patient Evaluation Form of Rothwell and Spektor for Oral Mucositis

 

NOTE: I have modified the evaluation form slightly. Refer to the citation for the original content.

 

Parameters:

(1) erythema

(2) patchy mucositis

(3) ulceration

(4) moniliasis

(5) saliva

(6) oral hygiene

(7) development of mucositis/stomatitis

(8) loss of taste

(9) dental caries

(10) trismus

(11) change in diet

 

where:

• The first 6 questions had Likert-type scales from 0 to 5, while the remainder had yes-no responses. One modification is the use of Likert scale throughout.

• One statement in the original evaluation form was "Has stomatitis (inflammation of the oral mucosa) developed? (original item 11). I am unsure how mucositis and stomatitis differ, so merged it with mucositis.

• The evaluation form was scored from 0 to 5 but there were no response terms. A third modification is the following point assignment table.

Response	Points
none	0
minimal	1
mild	2
moderate	3
severe	4
extreme	5

 

• Oral hygiene is scored as:

 

Response	Points
excellent	0
very good	1
good	2
fair	3
poor	4
nonexistent	5

 

• The change in diet can also be scored more accurately by switching to soft foods and liquids, with extreme possibly parenteral nutrition.

• The quality of saliva was given in the original table as:

 

Response	Points
normal	0
increase viscosity	1
ropey saliva	2
foamy saliva	3
substantially decreased	4
absent	5

 

total score =

= SUM(points for all 11 parameters)

 

Interpretation:

• minimum score: 0

• maximum score: 55

• The higher the score the more marked the oral mucositis.