Background: This study examined the trajectory of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with clinical stage N0 HNSCC enrolled in ACRIN 6685 who underwent elective neck dissection(s).
Methods: HRQoL of 230 patients in the ACRIN 6685 trial was measured prospectively up to 2 years following surgery using the University of Washington Quality of Life instrument.
Results: General Health Within the Last 7 Days did not differ significantly from baseline at any follow-up. General Health Relative to Before Cancer fell significantly by 5.8 points following surgery (p = 0.048), and then returned to 3.0 points above baseline at 1 year (p = 0.65). For Overall Quality of Life, HRQoL fell significantly by 4.3 points following surgery (p = 0.031) and then returned to levels not significantly different from baseline.
Conclusions: Patients with stage N0 HNSCC experience significant declines in HRQoL immediately following surgery, including neck dissection, which recovers to near or better than baseline within 1-2 years.
Keywords: ACRIN 6685; clinical trial; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; health‐related quality of life; longitudinal study; neck dissection.
© 2024 The Authors. Head & Neck published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.