The Therapeutic Effectiveness and Pharmacoeconomics of Compound Vitamin B_(12) and rhEGF in the Treatment of Oral Mucositis Caused by Radiotherapy in Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective To study the therapeutic effectiveness and effect-cost ratio of compound Vitamin B_12 and recombinant human epidermal growth factor(rhEGF) in the treatment of oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC). Methods 80 cases of NPC scheduled for radiotherapy were randomly divided into 2 equal groups, group Ⅰand group Ⅱ .Patients of both groups were submitted to linear acceleration or ~60Co radiotherapy. The dose of the radiotherapy was 2 Gy per time, 5 times a week. The course of treatment lasted 6 weeks. Oral mucositis began to appear in patients in the 2 ~nd week of radiotherapy. Beginning from this week, patients of group Ⅰand group Ⅱ were given each 2 mL of compound vitamin B_12 ,t.i.d. and 1 mL of rhEGF b.i.d. or t.i.d., respectively, administered by oral spraying. This treatment persisted until the termination of radiotherapy. Adverse reactions ,costs and therapeutic effects of the 2 drugs were registered for analysis.. Results The effective rates of compound vitamin B_12 and rhEGF in the treatment of oral mucositis in patients of groupⅠand groupⅡwere 87.5% and 92.5% ,respectively, the difference being insignificant (P0.05). However, the cost of compound vitamin B_12 (296.00 yuan) was significantly lower than that of rhECF (583.00 yuan). Conclusion From the viewpoint of pharmacoeconomics ,it seems preferable to use compound vitamin B_12 with a higher effect/cost ratio in the treatment of oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy in patients with NPC.