Oral complications in a paediatric graft versus host disease (GVHD) clinic: A retrospective study

Abstract

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the oral health status among allogeneic transplant recipients who were seen in a multidisciplinary graft‐versus‐host disease paediatric clinic at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent allogeneic transplants and were seen in the graft‐versus‐host disease paediatric clinic between January 2010 and September 2021. Demographic, medical and oral health data were recorded and analysed using descriptive statistics.ResultsA total of 25 patients were seen in the paediatric graft‐versus‐host disease clinic (68% males) with a median age of 12 years at the time of transplant were included. Among them, 12 patients (48%) were diagnosed with oral chronic GVHD, 11 (44%) with dry mouth, four (16%) with oral pseudomembranous candidiasis, one (4%) with recrudescent Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infection and one (4%) with mammalian target of rapamycin‐inhibitor stomatitis and were managed by the oral medicine team, accordingly with medications, such as topical steroids (44%) and anti‐fungal (20%).ConclusionsHSCT recipients may present with a variety of oral complications. Patients may benefit by a multi‐disciplinary approach including a dental specialist as part of the cancer care team.