Evaluation of and in Saliva of Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

​STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: Patients with leukemia are prone to infectious and often life-threatening complications. Evidence suggests that a specific oral microbiota may contribute to septicemia, which can delay antineoplastic treatment, compromise treatment efficacy, or even endanger patients' lives.

PURPOSE

This study investigated the prevalence of and in the saliva of patients with acute myeloid leukemia who were candidates for bone marrow transplantation.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 in the Hematology-Oncology Department of Namazi Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The study included 28 patients with acute myeloid leukemia eligible for bone marrow transplantation as the case group and age- and sex-matched healthy individuals as the control group. Unstimulated saliva samples were collected to determine the frequency of and . Data were analyzed using SPSS version 18, the chi-square test, and the independent t-test.

RESULTS

In the patients with acute myeloid leukemia, 26 (86%) were positive for and 18 (60%) were positive for . In the healthy group, 11 (22.9%) were positive for and 3 (6.2%) were positive for . The frequency of and in the saliva samples of patients with acute myeloid leukemia was significantly higher than in the healthy control subjects ( value < 0.05). Chi-square test showed no significant association between age and the frequency of bacteria ( value= 0.27).

CONCLUSION

In the current study, the frequency of and in the saliva of patients with acute myeloid leukemia was higher than in the healthy control group.