Gandhi Ajeet Kumar, Roy Soumyajit, Thakar Alok, Sharma Atul, Mohanti Bidhu Kalyan
Department of Radiation Oncology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology and Head-Neck Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Indian J Palliat Care. 2014 Sep;20(3):189-93. doi: 10.4103/0973-1075.138389.
Head and neck cancers (HNCa) are the most common cancers among males in India and 70-80% present in advanced stage. The study aims to assess symptom burden and quality of life (QOL) in advanced incurable HNCa patients at presentation.
One hundred patients were asked to fill EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL questionnaire, which consisted of Global QOL, physical functioning (PF), emotional functioning (EF), fatigue (FA), nausea-vomiting (NV), pain (PA), dyspnea (DY), sleep (SL), appetite (AP), and constipation (CO). Additional questions pertaining to swallowing (SW), hoarseness (HO), cough (CG), weight loss (WL), using pain killers (PK), taste (TA), bleeding (BL), hearing (HE), pain in neck lump (PALMP), opening mouth (OM), and oral secretions (OS) were asked based on a modified EORTC-HN35 questionnaire. Scoring was according to EORTC scoring manual. Mean, median and range were calculated for each item for the entire cohort.
The female:male ratio was 17:83.42% of them were ≥60 years of age. Sixty-six patients had T4, 25 had T3, 36 had N2, and 33 had N3 disease. Median QOL was 50 (range 0-83.33) and PF was 77.78 (0-100). Median score for EF and FA was 50. Median score for PA, PK, and SL was 66.67 while that for AP was 33.33. Median value for SW, HO, WL, BL, PALMP, OM, and OS was 33.33 (100-0) while TA, CG, NV, DY, and HE had a median score of 0.00.
Advanced HNCa has a significant burden of symptoms. These results would help in giving patients better symptom directed therapies and improve their QOL.
头颈癌(HNCa)是印度男性中最常见的癌症,70 - 80%在晚期出现。本研究旨在评估晚期不可治愈的头颈癌患者初诊时的症状负担和生活质量(QOL)。
100名患者被要求填写欧洲癌症研究与治疗组织(EORTC)QLQ - C15 - PAL问卷,该问卷包括总体生活质量、身体功能(PF)、情绪功能(EF)、疲劳(FA)、恶心呕吐(NV)、疼痛(PA)、呼吸困难(DY)、睡眠(SL)、食欲(AP)和便秘(CO)。基于修改后的EORTC - HN35问卷,还询问了与吞咽(SW)、声音嘶哑(HO)、咳嗽(CG)、体重减轻(WL)、使用止痛药(PK)、味觉(TA)、出血(BL)、听力(HE)、颈部肿块疼痛(PALMP)、张口(OM)和口腔分泌物(OS)相关的其他问题。评分依据EORTC评分手册。计算整个队列中每个项目的均值、中位数和范围。
女性与男性比例为17:83。其中42%年龄≥60岁。66例患者为T4期,25例为T3期,36例为N2期,33例为N3期。生活质量中位数为50(范围0 - 83.33),身体功能为77.78(0 - 100)。情绪功能和疲劳的中位数得分是50。疼痛、止痛药和睡眠的中位数得分是66.67,而食欲的中位数得分是33.33。吞咽、声音嘶哑、体重减轻、出血、颈部肿块疼痛、张口和口腔分泌物的中位数为33.33(100 - 0),而味觉、咳嗽、恶心呕吐、呼吸困难和听力的中位数得分为0.00。
晚期头颈癌有显著的症状负担。这些结果将有助于为患者提供更好的针对症状的治疗并改善他们的生活质量。