Effect of an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program on quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer: review of clinical experience.

Abstract

Patients with head and neck cancer experience complex posttreatment challenges. In a preliminary uncontrolled study, we evaluated the extent to which they can benefit from an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program. Twenty-seven patients completed an 8-week nutrition-rehabilitation program. Six-minute walk distance (6MWD), body weight, symptom burden, distress, and quality of life were assessed at baseline and at the end of the program. Patients improved their mean 6MWD by 59 m (effect size = 0.8), and 78% of patients either maintained or increased their body weight. They also reported a clinically meaningful reduction in severity of insomnia, pain, weakness, anorexia, shortness of breath, depression and distress, and improvement in quality of life (effect sizes = 0.6-0.9). However, they reported no change in symptom interference with function. An interdisciplinary rehabilitation program may be beneficial to patients with head and neck cancer after treatment, but its effects should be evaluated in a controlled trial.