Potting et al reported a scoring system for oral mucositis in cancer patients. This can help nurses monitor a patient over time. The authors are from Radboud University at Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands.
Patient selection: cancer patient at risk for oral mucositis
Objective parameters based on mouth inspection:
(1) erythema
(2) edema
(3) lesions
Subjective parameters from patient:
(1) pain based on VAS scale
(2) dryness of mouth
(3) viscosity of saliva
Parameter
Finding
Points
erythema
pink and moist
0
mild to moderate
1
severe
2
edema
none
0
mild (print of teeth in tongue edge; gingiva swollen and red
1
moderate (print of teeth in tongue; gingiva swollen and white)
2
severe (tongue and gingiva swollen, gingiva white)
3
lesions
none
0
1 to 4
1
5 or more
2
elapse ulceration
3
pain
none (0 on VAS)
0
0.1 to 3 on VAS
1
4 to 6 on VAS
2
> 6 on VAS
3
dryness of mouth
normal
0
mild dryness
1
moderate dryness
2
severe dryness
3
viscosity of saliva
normal
0
slimy
1
thick
2
where:
• A pain VAS between 3 and 4 is uncovered. This will be incorporated with 4 in the implementation.
total score =
= SUM(points for all 6 parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 0
• maximum score: 16
• The higher the score the more severe the mucositis.
Performance:
• Erythema and edema were the items with the lowest inter-observer reliability (kappa 0.6 and 0.26 respecitvely).
• The inter-observer reliability for the other 4 items range from 0.72 to 0.83 which is good to very good.
To read more or access our algorithms and calculators, please log in or register.
