Measures that Matter in Head-and-Neck Cancer

Abstract

In head-and-neck cancer (HNC), it is imperious to assess changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for a comprehensive evaluation of patient needs and treatment outcomes. Currently, there is limited literature about HRQoL measures used in the Indian context. This lack of information may make it difficult for clinicians to understand their patients' overall well-being and hamper their ability to contrive the appropriate treatment plans. Several questionnaires are currently available and used to assess HRQoL in HNC. The objective of this review is to briefly reflect upon the available questionnaires in HNC, their availability in Indian regional languages and conceivable improvement in the design of the questionnaires, and their clinical use. This will allow the head-and-neck clinical team to compare and contrast the available questionnaires and make an informed choice about the most appropriate measure based on their study design or clinical workflow.