RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORAL HEALTH, XEROSTOMIA AND RADIOIODINE THERAPY IN DIFFERENTIATED THYROID CARCINOMA.

Abstract

Radioiodine therapy is often required after thyroidectomy for the treatment of thyroid cervical debris and metastases from Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma (DTC). About 25% of the administered dose of iodotherapy with I131 is eliminated in the saliva, which may compromise the salivary glands, causing discomfort due to xerostomia and compromising oral health. The objective of this study is to carry out an early and a late evaluation of xerostomia, as well as oral health in patients with DTC before radioiodine therapy (RIT), after ablative RIT, and after adjuvant RIT. The cross-sectional, unicentric study will include patients aged 18 years and older, both men and women, with differentiated thyroid cancer who underwent ablative and/or adjuvant RIT undergoing follow-up at the Thyroid Neoplasia outpatient clinic of the Endocrinology Service of the Hospital de Clínicas da Universidade de Campinas. Epidemiological data regarding the tumor will be collected from the medical record. Patients will be submitted to the evaluation of oral health conditions (gingival index, plaques and also decayed, missing, and filled teeth), and application of a xerostomia questionnaire for subjective evaluation of hyposalivation. The salivary glands will be evaluated by cervical ultrasound at the timeof clinical evaluation of xerostomia. The information obtained will be used to build a database. Data will be compared using contingency tables and chi-square or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables, and using mean, standard deviation, median, and Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney test. The respective risks will be evaluated by calculating the prevalence ratio and their respective confidence intervals. The assumed significance level will be 5%.Keywords: Thyroid cancer, salivary gland, xerostomia, radioiodine therapy