Quality of life outcomes in laryngeal and oropharyngeal cancer patients after chemoradiation.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare quality of life issues in patients with advanced laryngeal versus oropharyngeal cancer after treatment with chemoradiation. A cohort study of 31 patients with laryngeal or oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated with chemoradiation completed the University of Washington quality of life instrument version 4 (UW-QOL v4). Statistical analysis was performed with Wilcoxon rank sum and chi-square tests. Academic tertiary care center. Both groups reported similar impairment in the domains of swallowing, chewing, and taste. Oropharyngeal cancer patients reported significantly worse quality of life in the domain of saliva (P < 0.007). Swallowing, chewing, and taste were adversely affected by chemoradiation for both groups. Oropharyngeal patients experienced significantly worse problems with saliva than laryngeal patients. These patients reported high levels of satisfaction with health-related quality of life issues. Specific head and neck subsites have different morbidities when treated with primary chemoradiation for advanced tumors.