Oral manifestations resulting from chemotherapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

INTRODUCTION: Acute lymphocytic leukemia is a type of cancer most common in children and it is characterized by excessive and disordered immature leukocytes in the bone marrow. AIM: Identify most frequent oral manifestations in children with acute lymphocytic leukemia under chemotherapy treatment. METHODOLOGY: The research was conducted on the eletronic database PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, Scielo and Scopus. It has been sought papers with full presentation, wrote in Portuguese, English and Spanish, published between January 1992 and April 2013. RESULTS: From studies primarily selected, only eight met the criteria of inclusion. All studies performed intraoral examinations to diagnose oral lesions. According to results, the most frequent lesions were mucositis, candidiasis, periodontitis and gingivitis. The oral health condition from acute lymphocytic leukemia carriers varied according oral hygiene of the patient. CONCLUSION: The results of studies identified such a great part of patients with ALL presented some lesion in oral cavity during or after chemotherapy treatment. The dentist surgeon needs to recognize oral manifestations and intervene in the oral health of patients with ALL, contributing and helping with treatment. © 2014 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.