Laryngeal Cancer and the End of Life (As We Know It)

Monica H Bodd; Susan D McCammon

doi:10.1016/j.otc.2022.11.005

Laryngeal Cancer and the End of Life (As We Know It)

Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 2023 Apr;56(2):403-412. doi: 10.1016/j.otc.2022.11.005.

Authors

Monica H Bodd¹, Susan D McCammon²

Affiliations

¹ Duke University, School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.
² Department of Otolaryngology, Heersink School of Medicine, 1155 Faculty Office Tower, 510 20th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35233, USA. Electronic address: smccammon@uabmc.edu.

PMID: 37030951
DOI: 10.1016/j.otc.2022.11.005

Abstract

Patients with laryngeal cancer undergo life-changing interventions that impact their individual and social well-being. There remains to be an in-depth characterization of the multidimensional symptom burden faced by patients with laryngeal cancer at the end of life. Care at end of life must attend to symptoms that manifest earlier in the course of illness. This article characterizes the suffering experienced by patients with laryngeal cancer, including societal shame, poor mental health, and inequitable outcomes. For patients with advanced laryngeal cancer, surgical palliative care provides a necessary and helpful paradigm for caregiver support, goals-of-care conversations, and treatment counseling.

Keywords: Disability; Laryngectomee; Palliative care; Personhood; Psychosocial needs; Suffering.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Counseling
Death
Humans
Laryngeal Neoplasms* / surgery
Mental Health
Neoplasms* / psychology
Neoplasms* / therapy
Palliative Care / methods
Quality of Life / psychology