Pilocarpine Mouth Care for Patients with Terminal Cancer

Park, Myung Hee; Yoo, Yang Sook

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate the effects of pilocarpine mouth care on the condition and discomfort of the oral cavity in patients with terminal cancer. METHOD: A quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group, pre- and post-test was used. The participants were 30 patients admitted to the hospice care unit of C university hospital. Fourteen patients received pilocarpine mouth care for 5 days. The other sixteen received general mouth care.
RESULTS
Improvement in the condition of the oral cavity was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. Decrease in oral discomfort scores was significantly higher in the experimental group compared to the control group. The incidence of oral candidiasis was significantly higher in the control group compared to the experimental group.
CONCLUSION
These findings indicate that pilocarpine mouth care could be an effective intervention for relieving oral discomfort, improving the condition of the oral cavity, and decreasing the incidence of oral candidiasis in patients with terminal cancer.