الفهرس 
? Epidemiology and EtiologyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
SUMMARY
D
ue to advancements in diagnostic and treatment modalities in locally advanced head and neck cancer, the survivorship of HNC patients has increased significantly during the last decade. However, these remarkable but aggressive treatment methods also bring along numerous side effects that significantly affect the quality of life (QoL) of the patients.
Chemo-irradiation combined modality is the standard of care for locally-advanced HNSCC suitable for organ-conserving management; concurrent treatment using a platinum-based agent is the dominant reported treatment approach. Chemotherapy toxicity, such as nausea/vomiting, myelosupression, neurotoxicity (e.g. parasthesias and tinnitus) and nephrotoxicity could significantly contribute to patients’ HRQoL experience.
Our study is a prospective one using a specific questionnaire for locally advanced head and neck cancer patients. EORTC QLQ-H&N35 module was developed specifically for patients with HNC and contains 35 questions divided into 7 subscales about pain, swallowing, senses, speech, social eating, social contact, and sexuality. There are 10 single items relating to problems with teeth, dry mouth, cough, mouth opening, sticky saliva, weight loss, and weight gain, use of nutritional supplements, feeding tubes, and pain killers. Higher scores in this module represent higher level of problems.
The results of our study show an overall decrease in HRQOL at the completion of concurrent chemoradiotherapy with significant improvement at 3 months follow up regarding pain, use of pain killers, difficulty in swallowing, teeth problems, cough, sexual interest and social eating but there was still worsening regarding dry mouth, social contact, speech difficulties and taste problems. There was no change regarding use of nutritional supplementations and hence no significant weight changes.
Further prospective studies in large sample of our population is strongly recommended to overcome unintended drawbacks of the study.