Somay Efsun, Topkan Erkan, Selek Ugur
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Baskent University, 82. Street No: 26, Bahcelievler, Ankara, Turkey.
Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Baskent University, Adana, Turkey.
Qual Life Res. 2025 May 30. doi: 10.1007/s11136-025-04000-2.
We read with great interest the systematic review by Ghazali et al., which rigorously synthesizes data from 32 longitudinal studies involving 12,206 patients to explore the prognostic significance of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and symptom-specific outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing radiotherapy (RT). The authors employed best-evidence synthesis methodology and highlighted post-treatment physical function as a robust predictor of overall survival (OS). Moreover, the study underscores the prognostic impact of several clinical variables, such as dysphagia, social eating challenges, and loss of appetite, all of which merit further attention in designing personalized treatment approaches for HNC survivors. While the review makes a timely and essential contribution to the literature, we respectfully suggest several areas where further clarification and expanded analysis may strengthen the interpretation and future applicability of the findings.
我们饶有兴趣地阅读了加扎利等人的系统评价，该评价严格综合了来自32项纵向研究的数据，涉及12206名患者，以探讨健康相关生活质量（HRQoL）和症状特异性结果在接受放疗（RT）的头颈癌（HNC）患者中的预后意义。作者采用了最佳证据综合方法，并强调治疗后身体功能是总生存期（OS）的有力预测指标。此外，该研究强调了几个临床变量的预后影响，如吞咽困难、社交饮食挑战和食欲不振，所有这些在为HNC幸存者设计个性化治疗方案时都值得进一步关注。虽然该评价对文献做出了及时且重要的贡献，但我们恭敬地建议在几个方面进行进一步的澄清和扩展分析，这可能会加强研究结果的解释和未来适用性。
