Oral mucositis (OM) is a frequently encountered problem as a complication of cancer treatment. We investigated whether daily washings with colchicine solution improved mucositis in patients with hematological malignancies undergoing chemotherapy.

This study was a one-arm, nonrandomized clinical trial that used a historical control group. Patients were included in the study from the first day of mucositis and followed up until discharge. Patients received 2 mg colchicine mouthwashes daily for 5 days or saline solution. OM was assessed once daily until symptom resolution, using the WHO grading scale of 0–4 and a visual analogue scale. We determined that at least 40 patients in the colchicine group would be needed to detect a 20% difference in the duration of OM between Groups A and B, with a 95% confidence level and a power of 80%.

82 patients were included in the final analysis, 40 in the colchicine group and 42 in the control group. Median duration of OM was significantly different among groups; 9days (range 1–17days) for the control group versus 6days (range 3–13days) for those exposed to colchicine mouthwash (p = .028). The median days of regression of mucosal lesions were significantly different (p = .047) among the control group (7 days [range 3–20]) compared to the colchicine group (4 days [range 2–14]).

Although our findings suggest that colchicine mouthwash is helpful in reducing the severity and duration of chemotherapy-induced OM, randomized trials are needed to confirm these results.