Comparative Analysis of the Quality of Life in the Pretreatment of Head and Neck Cancer Patients According to Tumor Site

Abstract

Introduction Head and neck cancer (HNC) and its treatment can cause physical, psychological, and quality of life (QoL) damage, because it can disturb the physiology of eating, breathing, speaking, and compromise self-image. Objective To evaluate the QoL of the pretreatment of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer according to the anatomical location of the tumor. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed on a sample of 144 patients undergoing pretreatment for cancer from February 2017 to July 2019. The University of Washington QoL Questionnaire (version 4) was used to assess the QoL. The anatomical location data were obtained from medical records. The ANOVA test was used to compare the differences in QoL according to tumor location. Results A total of 144 participants were included, 66 (45.5%) of whom had the primary tumor located in the mouth. The median age of the patients was 62 years, with a higher prevalence of male (75.7%), Black (78.5%), single/divorced/widowed people (59%), and illiterates (32.6%); most of them were smokers (84.7%) and alcohol drinkers (79.2%). The mean QoL score was 830 for mouth cancer, 858 for pharynx cancer, and 891 for laryngeal cancer patients. Conclusion Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the QoL of patients with head and neck cancer was not influenced by tumor location. The most affected domains in the three groups were pain, appearance, chewing, swallowing, and speech (p < 0.05).

Prevalência das alterações funcionais, anatômicas e qualidade de vida dos pacientes submetidos a esvaziamento cervical convencional e via retroauricular

“…Em decorrência das características anatômicas da cabeça e pescoço, o tratamento cirúrgico nesses pacientes pode resultar em piora na aparência e em variados graus de disfunção das funções motoras da mastigação, deglutição e fala; bem como alteração do paladar e já citada dor crônica no ombro, entre outros aspectos (Cruz et al, 2022). Como consequência, estas sequelas podem alterar funções importantes relacionadas à alimentação, comunicação e interação social desses indivíduos, podendo afetar sua autoestima, limitar suas atividades e sua capacidade de trabalho, assim como restringir as relações desses indivíduos com seus familiares e amigos, resultando em impacto negativo na sua qualidade de vida (Vartanian et al, 2017).…”

“…Pacientes submetidos a esvaziamentos cervicais apresentam piora da qualidade de vida no período pós-operatório, sendo o impacto mais proeminente nos primeiros seis meses com melhora progressiva entre doze e dezoito meses (Laverick et al, 2004). Embora não pareça estar relacionada com o sítio tumoral, a qualidade de vida está relacionada ao estadiamento clínico e à extensão do tratamento clínico e cirúrgico (Cruz et al, 2022).…”