Patients' priorities among treatment effects in head and neck cancer: Evaluation of a new assessment tool

Background. Patients with head and neck cancer may face decisions between s urgery or radiation (with or without chemotherapy) which involve significan t trade-offs in functional outcomes. This preliminary investigation is desi gned to examine patients' priorities among the effects of treatments for he ad and neck cancer. Methods. A new instrument designed to allow patients to rank personal prior ities among 12 treatment effects was developed and tested. A cross section of patients (19) from pretreatment and posttreatment time periods and 23 co ntrols participated. Results. Preliminary findings indicate high individual variability, with so me differences between groups according to treatment time. Differences betw een patients and controls are evident. We report test-retest reliability an d the limitations of this new tool. Conclusions. The data suggest that measures of health state values should b e conducted with patients rather than healthy volunteers. Patients' priorit ies may be influenced by treatment and some values may be more susceptible to change with experience of treatment effects. This new tool may provide i nsight into how patients' prioritize the anticipated and experienced effect s of treatment for head and neck cancers. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.