Table 3.

Summary of the characteristics of the clinical studies on the use of benzydamine: strengths and weaknesses

Clinical trials assessed (5)	Epstein (2001)	Cheng (2006)	Kazemian (2009)	Roopashri (2011)	Rastogi (2016)
Strength prospective/con-trolled studies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Weaknesses	Mucositis recorded on keratinized mucosa (minimal mucositis risk)	Oral mucosal infections with similar presentation, ulcers and pseudo-membranes not differentiated	Specific types of carcinomas, laryngeal or parotid, were not described separately	Benzydamine was used either prior or after 2 weeks of RT initiation	Real-world situation was questionable in some studies (several exclusions)
Systematic reviews (2)	Nicolatou-Galitis (2013)	Ariyawardana (2019)
Overall Conclusion on the use of benzydamine to prevent oral mucositis		Benzydamine mouthwash is recommended for prevention of oral mucositis in head/neck cancer patients, who receive moderate-dose radiation therapy up to 50 Gy and it is suggested for the prevention of oral mucositis in patients with head/neck cancer receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy