Background: The chemotherapeutic agent oxaliplatin can cause acute and chronic forms of peripheral neuropathy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of chronic neuropathy and its risk factors in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients treated with FOLFOX or XELOX regimens in the Oncology Ward of Hazrate-Rasoul Hospital in Tehran. Materials and Methods: A total of 130 patients with CRC were entered into our study, aged over 18 years, without history of receiving other neurotoxic agents or other predisposing factors such as diabetes or neurologic diseases and kidney and liver dysfunction. For the FOLFOX regimen, patients received oxaliplatin, 85 mg/m2, every 2 weeks for 12 courses and with the XELOX regimen, oxaliplatin was 130mg/m 2 , every 3 weeks for 8 courses. Based on Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC or NCI-CTC v.3), the patients were divided into 5 groups (grades) based on the severity of their symptoms. Results: Fifty-seven patients (43.8%) were male and 73(56.2%) female. Some 19 patients (14.7%) had BMI<20, 97(74.6%) were between 20-25 and 14 (10.8%) ≥25. In 105 patients (80.7%) neuropathy was found. There was significant correlation between BMI, hypomagnesaemia and especially, severity of anemia in patients with neuropathy compared to those without. Conclusions: Oxaliplatin regimens can induce chronic neuropathy in CRC patients, with anemia, high BMI and hypomagnesaemia as risk factors that can predispose to this kind of neurotoxicity.

Introduction: Adenotonsillectomy is one of the common surgeries specifically performed in children. The major complication of this surgery is post-surgery pains. The present study compared the effect of acetaminophen and licorice-based traditional medicine for the alleviation pain in patients with adenotonsillectomy. Materials and Method: This single-blinded pilot clinical trial study was carried on 3–15-year-old patients who had undergone tonsillectomy. After the surgery patients of both groups received 10 mg/kg syrup of acetaminophen every six hours for 24 hours. In addition, in the patients of the experimental group, licorice lozenges (with doses of 1000 mg) were administered.  Wong-Baker’s Faces Pain Scale was used to measure the level of pains. Results: A total of 40 patients were assessed. Friedman test demonstrated that the mean pain of the two groups showed significant reduction (p=0.001). Also, the Mann-Whitney-U test revealed that the mean pain severity in the licorice-receiving group in 6 (p=0.056), 12 (p=0.02) and 18 (p=0.006) hours after the surgery significantly decreased compared to that of the control group. Conclusion: The level of pain reduction after adenotonsillectomy in the licorice group was significantly higher than that in the control group.