Quality of life evaluation in patients with carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract

Background. The quality of life (QoL) of patients with malignant diseases decreases significantly. Objective. The evaluation of QoL is generally not part of the management of patients with head and neck cancer. The aim of this study was to develop an additional disease- and treatment-specific questionnaire to evaluate Col. in surgically treated head and neck cancer patients. Patients and methods. The general QoL was evaluated with the QLQ-C30 questionnaire developed by the European Organisation of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). Results. The disease-specific QoL was evaluated using the EORTC H&N35 module. The new questionnaire "Kiel Head and Neck 17" (KQL H&N-17) is a disease- and treatment-specific addition especially in regard to side effects caused by surgical treatment. Conclusions. A wide application of this whole concept is needed to obtain comparable results from studies suitable for evaluating QoL in patients receiving different treatments for their malignant diseases. Moreover, the effectiveness and quality of treatment could be controlled better, which would help to increase the Col. of these patients.