A systematic review on the effect of palliative chemotherapy and radiation on quality of life for people with head and neck cancer
Abstract
Background
Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are considered to have different impacts on patient quality of life (QOL). Specifically, QOL is considered to be a multi-dimensional construct in terms of an individual's subjective assessment which affects the overall treatment of the functioning and wellbeing of individuals. Therefore, the aim of the present systematic review was to explore the effect of palliative chemotherapy and radiation on quality of life for people with head and neck cancer.
Methods:
A systematic review of the literature performed a search of the following databases PsycINFO; MEDLINE; CINAHL; and PubMed to identify all of the relevant articles published in peer-reviewed journals in the past 10 years. A PRISMA flow diagram was also utilised to visually summarise and screen a process and eliminate irrelevant articles. A quality assessment of articles using the Joanna Briggs checklist was used.
Results:
A total of 593 studies were identified after removal of duplicates, 8 studies met the inclusion criteria. The total sample size for all the included studies was 844 participants of which 248 (29.40%) were females. The review findings have shown that there are variety of treatments which were used individually or combined to manage HNCs. The treatments included: brachytherapy (BT); chemotherapy (CT); surgery (S); radiotherapy (RT) concomitant chemotherapy (CC); combined chemotherapy and radiation (CCRT). There was no justification as to why treatments were used in combination with one another or individually. The findings revealed that there were several factors associated with QoL for instance HNC progression which impacts patient health and can occur over the course of the intervention. The findings suggest that QoL used as a part of clinical practice has the potential to improve patient quality of care.
Conclusion:
Based on this review, more studies need conducting. Considering QoL appears crucial for treatment planning, refining treatment, and planning follow-ups. In order to provide effective treatment, it appears vital to include the patient in treatment decision-making and involve them in multi-disciplinary meetings. This study has many implications for clinical practice and may provide a framework for establishing policy interventions to improve QoL among patient with HNC.