Patients’ perceived health status following primary surgery for oral and oropharyngeal cancer

Assessment of functioning in patients with head and neck cancer according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF): A multicenter study

“…Surprisingly, functional impairment seems to be more disturbed in patients of 60 years and younger than in the comparably older age group. Similar results were identified in patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer from the United Kingdom, 46 where patients' answers were correlated to national reference data on the same age group without HNC. Here, the younger ages (<60 years) fared significantly worse than expected for their age, whereas this was not so for older patients.…”

Analyses of speech intelligibility in patients after glossectomy and reconstruction with fasciocutaneous/myocutaneous flaps

“…Postoperative quality of life is increasingly emphasized in the evaluation of outcomes for patients who have undergone surgical ablation of oral cancer [11][12][13] . The resection of tongue cancer often causes postoperative speech impairment, as the tongue is a primary active articulator.…”

Optimal management of the elderly patient with head and neck cancer: Issues regarding surgery, irradiation and chemotherapy

“…When considering cancer-specific overall survival, the difference between the two groups was at borderline statistical level, being at 5 years 55% vs 59%, respectively [59,60] . Cancer-specific overall survival was similar between the two groups for oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer, whereas elderly patients with laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer had a significantly worse 5-year cancerspecific overall survival compared to their younger counterparts (71% vs 78%, P = 0.02 and 30% vs 42%, P < 0.01) [61] . In the case-control study by the surveillance, epidemiology and result data base of Baltimore, on 2508 cases of HNC in patients older than 50 years, cancer-specific survival of patients older than 70 years has been shown to be comparable to that of patients of 50-69 years, with the exception of stage Ⅰ and Ⅳ glottic carcinoma and stage Ⅲ tonsil carcinoma, where cancer-specific prognosis has been demonstrated to be worse and better in elderly patients, respectively [3] .…”

“…Elderly patients can cope, tolerate and adapt remarkably well and several studies have shown that the quality of life of elderly patients undergoing curative treatment for cancer of the head and neck is comparable to that of the younger population [61][62][63] . Despite the aforementioned data, elderly patients with cancer of the head and neck are less likely to receive standard treatment including radical surgery or postoperative chemo-radiotherapy, which probably contributes to poor outcomes reported in those patient populations [6] .…”