Oral health of adult patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation. Pre-transplant assessment and care

Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is now one of the frequent procedures used for treatment of malignant and non-malignant blood diseases, autoimmune disorders, and certain solid tumors. Despite improvements of therapeutic protocols, HCT still carries a high risk of non-relapse mortality due to early and late complications. Side effects of the therapy regimen frequently occur in the oral cavity and often significantly decrease the patients’ quality of life. The complications may result from or may be exacerbated by improper oral preparation of the patient before transplantation. Therefore, it is mandatory that all patients referred to HCT undergo thorough dental examination and receive appropriate treatment before the procedure. It is also very important to develop an individual post-transplantation oral care protocol with special concerns to oral hygiene before implementation of the conditioning. This paper presents a review of dental management methods intended for patients before HCT proposed in literature as well as recommendations based on the experience of the Department of Comprehensive Dental Care and the Department of Conservative Dentistry of Warsaw Medical University and the Warsaw Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion. The article pays special attention to the problem of potential foci of infection and bleeding. It also presents protocol of oral hygiene in post-transplantation period, used by patients of Warsaw Medical University and Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion.