Quality of life in head and neck cancer patients at 5 years after free flap reconstruction: a significant decline during the follow-up

Purpose: Free flap reconstructions following head and neck tumor resection are known to involve more than 50% rate of complications and other adverse events and up to 50% mortality during a 5-year follow-up. We aimed to examine the difference in the long-term quality of life (QoL) between the 2-year and 5-year assessments after free flap surgery for cancer of the head and neck.

Methods: A total of 28 of the 39 eligible patients responded to the survey. QoL was assessed at 5 years after operation and compared with the assessment performed at 2 years after the operation using RAND-36, EORTC-C30 and H&N-35, and SWAL-QOL tools.

Results: The criteria for poor QoL using RAND-36 tool was met in 11 (39.3%) patients in contrast to 4 (14.3%, P = 0.003) patients in the 2-year assessment. EORTC-C30 global score was decreased from 83.9 (SD16.4) to 64.6 (SD 24.0, P < 0.001) during the follow-up. In both RAND-36 and EORTC-C30 surveys, decline was found in physical and role functioning together with energy and emotional well-being domains. SWAL-QOL showed poor swallowing-related QoL in both assessments.

Conclusion: We found a significant decline in QoL during a 5-year follow-up after free flap surgery for cancer of the head and neck.