Assessment of quality of life in head and neck cancer survivors

Abstract

Treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC) can significantly impact on quality of life (QoL), its assessment through questionnaires being an important aspect in the clinical and therapeutic evaluation of patients. There is growing interest in assessing QoL in CCC using standardized questionnaires since, together with recurrence and survival, it helps to understand treatment results. Studies reveal that factors of the patient (age, sex, comorbidities), tumor (location, size) and type of treatment (surgery, radio-chemotherapy) are associated with QoL. Although global QoL scores typically decrease after treatment, they generally recover over time. The assessment of QoL has become an additional parameter to consider in the care and management of HNC survivors. It is necessary to evaluate its long-term results since patients may require a long time to recover from the disease and the adverse effects of treatment.