EVOLUTION OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE ASSESSMENT IN HEAD AND NECK-CANCER

Quality of life assessment as part of clinical practice in head and neck oncology began over 40 years ago. Early studies were narrative and cross-sectional; these were followed, at first, by simple quantitative measures of various parameters and later by longitudinal studies of greater complexity. More recently quality of life has been employed in a randomized clinical trial of head and neck cancer. Quality of life has evolved to become a standard means of assessing clinical outcomes, and an accepted end point measurement in clinical trials, to be considered alongside survivorship and side effects/complications.