Quality of life measurement in Egyptian patients with laryngeal cancer

Abstract EN

Introduction: Quality of life (QOL) reflects the need to assess the patient’s overall sense of well-being and how it relates to disease and disease treatment.

Setting: Prospective longitudinal case control study.

Purpose: To evaluate QOL in Egyptian patients treated for laryngeal cancer in an attempt to describe the degree and areas of affection and improvement with different treatment modalities.

Patients and Methods: Newly diagnosed patients with laryngeal cancer were divided into 3 groups according to the primary treatment received: combined surgical and radiotherapy, surgical resection, and radiotherapy only.

The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaires (EORTC-QLQ) were used.

Results: All pretreatment functional scales as well as symptoms scales were lowest in the combined therapy group and were least affected in the surgical group.

The functional scales reached their lowest levels in all groups during active treatment with the surgical group having the best scores.

Radiotherapy group scales showed persistent slow recovery.

There was striking affection of the financial difficulties score in all groups equally and throughout the study period. Conclusion: QOL measurement can provide information to guide clinical decision making, assess rehabilitation needs, understand patient preferences, policy making and in patient education.

It can be adapted to different countries and cultures, elucidating their own peculiar problems.