Correlation of radiation treatment interruptions with psychiatric disease and performance status in head and neck cancer patients

Abstract

Poor performance status and preexisting psychiatric condition predicted for treatment interruptions during RT for head and neck cancer. In view of the possible detrimental effect on treatment outcome, appropriate social programs should be initiated to overcome potential barriers to RT for these particular populations.

Eliminating Transportation Barriers to Outpatient Therapy for Underserved Patients with Cancer

“…This phenomenon was confirmed in another retrospective study for 280 patients with head and neck cancer that underwent RT in California [2]. Up to 75% of patients …”

Effect of psychosocial distress on outcome for head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation

“…For instance, patients with increased psychosocial burden were significantly more likely to miss days of RT treatment, terminate their RT course early, as well as experience continuous treatment breaks in excess of 5 and 10 days. Others have similarly shown that preexisting psychiatric disease can be associated with unplanned treatment interruptions during RT resulting in prolonged courses . These observations are important because a considerable amount of preclinical, radiobiological data exist supporting the importance of completing RT for head and neck cancer in a timely fashion.…”

Impact of Performance Status and Comorbidity on Palliative Radiation Treatment Tolerance and End-Of-Life Decision-Making

“…In a comprehensive analysis of treatment interruptions involving all cancer sites, one study found that the most common reason for treatment interruption was adverse tissue reactions. 17 For patients with head and neck cancer, KPS has been previously shown to be predictive of radiation treatment interruptions, 7 and decreased cervical cancer treatment tolerance was associated with genitourinary and gastrointestinal toxicity. 18 …”

“…KPS in combination with comorbidity can be tools to assist in the fractionation scheduling for this cohort. Performance status also has the potential to gauge treatment tolerance for patients who receive palliative RT because KPS has already been shown to predict for treatment interruptions in the definitive setting 7 . Nonetheless, this has yet to be examined in patients who receive RT with palliative intent.…”