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Assessing patient‐reported symptom burden of long‐term head and neck cancer survivors at annual surveillance in survivorship clinic
Author(s) -
Townes Thomas G.,
Navuluri Sriram,
Pytynia Kristen B.,
Gunn Gary Brandon,
Kamal Mona J.,
Gilmore Katherine R.,
Chapman Patricia H.,
Bell Katherine V.,
Fournier Danielle M.,
Janik Monica A.,
Joseph Liza M.,
Zendehdel Sara,
Hutcheson Katherine A.,
Goepfert Ryan P.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.26119
Subject(s) - medicine , head and neck cancer , survivorship curve , radiation therapy , dysphagia , cancer , cohort , univariate analysis , chemotherapy , surgery , multivariate analysis
Background This study reports long‐term head and neck cancer (HNC) patient‐reported symptoms using the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory Head and Neck Cancer Module (MDASI‐HN) in a large cohort of HNC survivors. Methods MDASI‐HN results were prospectively collected from an institutional survivorship database. Associations with clinicopathologic data were analyzed using χ 2 , Mann‐Whitney, and univariate regression. Results Nine hundred and twenty‐eight patients were included. Forty‐six percent had oropharyngeal primary tumors. Eighty‐two percent had squamous cell carcinoma. Fifty‐six percent of patients had ablative surgery and 81% had radiation therapy as a component of treatment. The most severe symptoms were xerostomia and dysphagia. Symptom scores were worst for hypopharynx and varied by subsite. Patients treated with chemoradiation or surgery followed by radiation ± chemotherapy reported the worst symptoms while patient treated with surgery plus radiation ± chemotherapy reported the worst interference. Conclusion HNC survivors describe their long‐term symptom burden and inform efforts to improve care many years into survivorship.