A prospective study on quality of life of patients with cancer of the oralcavity or oropharynx treated with surgery with or without radiotherapy

The aim of this study was to describe prospectively quality of life and moo d in patients with oral or oropharyngeal cancer treated with surgery +/- ra diotherapy. Seventy-five patients completed the EORTC Core Questionnaire, t he EORTC Head and Neck Cancer module and the Center for Epidemiologic Studi es' Depression Scale before treatment and 6 and 12 months later. There was a significant deterioration of physical functioning, fatigue and almost all head and neck symptoms except pain, which improved. Patients with stage II I/IV and patients receiving combined treatment had significantly worse phys ical symptoms compared to patients with stage I/II and patients treated wit h surgery only, respectively, Before and after treatment there was a high l evel of depressive symptomatology. However, after treatment a gradual impro vement in emotional functioning occurred. Surgical treatment for oral or or opharyngeal cancer results in significant deterioration of physical functio ning and symptoms during the first year, especially when combined with radi otherapy. Despite this, there is an improvement of emotional functioning af ter treatment, probably as a result of adaptation and coping processes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.