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Health-related quality of life in patients with metastatic, relapsed, or inoperable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in India

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Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to evaluate changes in health related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with metastatic head and neck (H&N) cancer randomized to receive metronomic (methotrexate and celecoxib) or cisplatin chemotherapy.

Methods

Patients older than 18 years, with a Karnofsky Performance score of ≥70, and diagnosed with metastatic, locally advanced inoperable or recurrent head and neck (H&N) cancer not amenable to surgery or radiation were randomized (1:1) to receive metronomic or cisplatin chemotherapy. All patients were recruited from the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India. In addition to demographic and baseline clinical characteristics, patients were asked to rate their HRQoL using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and the EORTC QLQ-H&N35 questionnaires (Indian versions) at baseline and at the end of each chemo cycle (every 3 weeks) till the end of study or early termination.

Results

Of the 110 patients screened, 87 agreed to participate in the study. Mean age of the study population was 47.5 years (S.D. ±10.04) for the metronomic group and 47.2 years (S.D. ±9.89) for the cisplatin group. Overall quality of life was not significantly different between the two treatment groups from baseline to end of treatment. However, there was a statistically significant improvement in Pain QLQ-C30 score from baseline to week 3 (OR = 3.14, p = 0.036) and week 6 (OR = 3.33, p = 0.034) in the metronomic arm compared with the cisplatin arm.

Conclusion

In addition to improvements in survival, understanding the impact of treatment options on changes in HRQoL is important as it can aid physicians in making treatment and rehabilitation decisions for patients with advanced inoperable H&N cancer.

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Funding

This was an investigator initiated study and was funded by Intramural Grant from Tata Memorial Hospital.

Compliance with ethical standards

ᅟ

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Statement of human rights

The studies have been approved by the appropriate institutional ethics committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Confirmation

This is to confirm that paper submitted to Value in Health journal is just the abstract and not the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Room no-304, Parel, Mumbai, 400012, India

    Vanita Noronha, Amit Joshi, Vijay Patil, Shripad Banavali & Kumar Prabhash

  2. Department of Radiology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India

    Shashikant Juvekar & Supreeta Arya

  3. pharmEDGE, Mumbai, India

    Shalaka Marfatia

Authors
  1. Vanita Noronha
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  2. Amit Joshi
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  3. Shalaka Marfatia
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  4. Vijay Patil
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  5. Shashikant Juvekar
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  6. Supreeta Arya
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  7. Shripad Banavali
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  8. Kumar Prabhash
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kumar Prabhash.

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Noronha, V., Joshi, A., Marfatia, S. et al. Health-related quality of life in patients with metastatic, relapsed, or inoperable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck in India. Support Care Cancer 24, 1595–1602 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2937-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2937-9

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