The Effect of Improving Oral Hygiene through Professional Oral Care to Reduce the Incidence of Pneumonia Post-esophagectomy in Esophageal Cancer.

The Effect of Improving Oral Hygiene through Professional Oral Care to Reduce the Incidence of Pneumonia Post-esophagectomy in Esophageal Cancer. Keio J Med. 2018 Oct 06;: Authors: Yamada Y, Yurikusa T, Furukawa K, Tsubosa Y, Niihara M, Mori K, Asoda S, Kawana H, Kitagawa Y, Nakagawa T Abstract Radical esophagectomy for thoracic esophageal cancer is invasive and frequently results in postoperative pulmonary complications. Postoperative pneumonia is the most common such complication and affects hospital mortality and survival rates. Oral care has been very effective in reducing pneumonia. In Japan, preoperative professional oral care is highly recommended. However, there are few studies on the effect of preoperative improvements in oral hygiene as a result of intervention on the incidence of postoperative pneumonia. The primary end-point of this retrospective study was the incidence of postoperative pneumonia after radical esophagectomy. The oral health levels of 46 patients were individually categorized, and then patients were grouped according to whether they maintained or improved their oral hygiene. At the first dental examination, oral health levels were classified as good in 22 patients and bad in 24. Of the 46 patients studied, 39 patients maintained or improved their oral hygiene (good control group), whereas 7 showed no improvement (bad control group). Postoperative pneumonia occurred in eight patients: four in the good contr...
Source: The Keio Journal of Medicine - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tags: Keio J Med Source Type: research