quality-of-life assessment in patients with head and neck cancer treated with radiation therapy

Conditions: Head and Neck Cancer

Summary: rationale: gathering information over time about patients' quality-of-life and satisfaction with care may help doctors plan the best treatment and help patients live more comfortably. purpose: this randomized clinical trial is studying quality-of-life assessment in patients with head and neck cancer treated with radiation therapy.

objectives: primary * to evaluate the impact of quality-of-life assessment in routine oncology practice on satisfaction with care, health-related quality-of-life, and toxicity in patients with primary nonmetastatic head and neck cancer treated with radiotherapy. secondary * to evaluate the feasibility of using quality-of-life tools in routine oncology practice. * to evaluate the impact on the occurrence of toxicity. * to determine the impact on overall survival. * to study the concordance between the toxicity reported by the clinician and those reported by the patient quality-of-life questionnaires. outline: patients are stratified according to sex, tumor localization, and tnm stage. patients are randomized to 1 of 2 arms. * arm i: patients complete quality-of-life questionnaires (eortc tools only, including eortc qlq-sat32, eortc qlq-c30, and specific module qlq-h\&n35/euroqol eq-5d) before each consultation with the clinician for one year. * arm ii: patients undergo standard follow-up care comprising consultation with the clinician for one year. after completion of study, patients are followed up every 3 months for 1 year and then at 2 years.

Eligibility criteria:
disease characteristics: * diagnosis of primary nonmetastatic head and neck cancer * no other primary cancer localizations * no second tumor localization at the time of diagnosis * must be planning to be treated initially with radiotherapy patient characteristics: * no cognitive impairment or psychiatric history * no history of other cancer prior concurrent therapy: * no prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy

Keywords: stage i squamous cell carcinoma of the lip and oral cavity stage ii squamous cell carcinoma of the lip and oral cavity stage iii squamous cell carcinoma of the lip and oral cavity stage i lymphoepithelioma of the oropharynx stage ii lymphoepithelioma of the oropharynx stage iii lymphoepithelioma of the oropharynx stage i squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx stage ii squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx stage iii squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx stage i lymphoepithelioma of the nasopharynx stage ii lymphoepithelioma of the nasopharynx stage iii lymphoepithelioma of the nasopharynx stage i squamous cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx stage ii squamous cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx stage iii squamous cell carcinoma of the nasopharynx stage i squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx stage ii squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx stage iii squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx stage i squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx stage ii squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx stage iii squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx stage i verrucous carcinoma of the larynx stage ii verrucous carcinoma of the larynx stage iii verrucous carcinoma of the larynx tongue cancer