Exploratory study of long-term health-related quality of life in patients with surgically treated primary parotid gland cancer.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has received more and more attention as an outcome in cancer therapy. In this exploratory study, we assessed the long-term HRQOL among 77 surgically treated patients with parotid gland cancer.

Methods: The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30-questions (EORTC-QLQ-C30) and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core 30 Head and Neck 35-questions (EORTC-QLQ-C30-H&N35) questionnaires were used in a cross-sectional design. The mean time-lag between initial diagnosis and completion of the questionnaire was 89.7 months.

Results: The HRQOL significantly increased with the time-lag to surgery and decreased with the patients' age. Factors with clinically significant effects in several areas of long-term HRQOL (ie, more than 4 scores) were age, type of neck dissection, preoperative facial nerve palsy, and postoperative radiation therapy.

Conclusion: In parotid gland cancer surgery, factors, such as sex, age, type of surgery, facial nerve palsy, and radiation therapy, seem to be associated with clinically meaningful differences in long-term HRQOL scores.