Quality of life following surgery for head and neck cancer: Evidence from ACRIN 6685

Christopher S Hollenbeak; Fenghai Duan; Rathan M Subramaniam; Alexander Taurone; JoRean Sicks; Val J Lowe; Brendan C Stack Jr

doi:10.1002/hed.27673

Quality of life following surgery for head and neck cancer: Evidence from ACRIN 6685

Head Neck. 2024 Feb 14. doi: 10.1002/hed.27673. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Christopher S Hollenbeak¹, Fenghai Duan², Rathan M Subramaniam^{3

4

5}, Alexander Taurone², JoRean Sicks², Val J Lowe⁶, Brendan C Stack Jr⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Policy and Administration, College of Health and Human Development, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
² Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
³ Faculty of Medicine, Nursing, Midwifery and Health Sciences, University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ Department of Radiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
⁵ Department of Medicine, University of Otago Medical School, Dunedin, New Zealand.
⁶ Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
⁷ Department of Otolaryngology - Head Neck Surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois, USA.

PMID: 38353324
DOI: 10.1002/hed.27673

Abstract

Background: This study examined the trajectory of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with clinical stage N0 HNSCC enrolled in ACRIN 6685 who underwent elective neck dissection(s).

Methods: HRQoL of 230 patients in the ACRIN 6685 trial was measured prospectively up to 2 years following surgery using the University of Washington Quality of Life instrument.

Results: General Health Within the Last 7 Days did not differ significantly from baseline at any follow-up. General Health Relative to Before Cancer fell significantly by 5.8 points following surgery (p = 0.048), and then returned to 3.0 points above baseline at 1 year (p = 0.65). For Overall Quality of Life, HRQoL fell significantly by 4.3 points following surgery (p = 0.031) and then returned to levels not significantly different from baseline.

Conclusions: Patients with stage N0 HNSCC experience significant declines in HRQoL immediately following surgery, including neck dissection, which recovers to near or better than baseline within 1-2 years.

Keywords: ACRIN 6685; clinical trial; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; health-related quality of life; longitudinal study; neck dissection.

Abstract

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