Quality of life after conservative laryngeal surgery: a multidimensional method of evaluation.

Assessment of quality of life (QoL) and satisfaction with care are particularly important in the field of oncology. The definition of QoL and the requirements for its measurement are still a matter of debate, but it is generally accepted that QoL is a multidimensional concept involving three different domains: physical, psychological and social. The aim of this study was to test a simple, inexpensive, multidimensional method of QoL measurement, based both on patients' perception of clinical outcome and the quantitatively evaluated clinical outcome, equally weighted, in patients who underwent three different types of conservative laryngeal surgery: horizontal laryngectomy (HG), supraglottic laryngectomy (SL) and subtotal reconstructive laryngectomy (SRL).