In spite of successful curative surgery for buccal mucosa carcinoma the health-related quality-of-life continues to remain poor.

Background: In early stage buccal mucosa carcinoma, in spite of successful curative surgery, the health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) may not improve. We aimed to study HRQoL in these patients who had undergone successful curative surgery and determined factors that influence the HRQoL.

Methods: Subjects, aged 18-70 years, who had undergone successful curative surgery for stage I and II buccal mucosa cancer, were assessed for HRQoL using the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire and factors affecting HRQoL were determined. Their scores were compared with normative reference scores.

Results: 54 patients (stages I 54%, II 46%) aged 44 ± 11 years (87% males) were studied. They had undergone curative surgery a median of 8.5 (IQR 4-13.5) months ago. Their mean global HRQoL score was 77 ± 30, with significantly poorer scores compared to reference in domains of appearance, activity, swallowing, chewing, speech, shoulder, saliva, mood and anxiety. Anxiety, activity, and chewing were considered the most important domains by the patients. Among the factors influencing HRQoL, duration since surgery was the most important factor, and patients with recent surgery had worse performance in chewing, saliva and mood. Patients with stage II had worse performance in shoulder and anxiety compared to stage I. Post-operative radiotherapy worsened swallowing and shoulder function.

Conclusion: In spite of successful curative surgery for buccal mucosa carcinoma, the HRQoL continues to remain sub-optimal with poor scores in most of the domains. These domains must be focused on with appropriate measures in order to improve overall HRQoL in patients after successful curative surgery.