Journal of Isfahan Medical School

Journal of Isfahan Medical School

Influence of Radiation Therapy Parameters on the Quality of Life in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer Treated with Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy

Document Type : Original Article (s)

Authors
Seyed Reza Mousavi 1
Nasrollah Jabbari 2
1 MSc Student, Department of Medical Physics and Imaging, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Medical Physics and Imaging, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran
Abstract
Background: The present study aimed to investigate the influence of therapeutic parameters of radiation therapy on the quality life in patients suffering from head and neck cancer after being treated with three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT).Methods: In this study, the quality life of 45 patients with organs at risks of thyroid, salivary glands and eyes was assessed after treatment of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy under the influence of parameters such as the treatment region, prescribed dose, the grade of cancer and the type of treatment. The European organization for research and treatment of cancer quality of life questionnaire-core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and the Quality of life questionnaire-head and neck 35 (QLQ–H&N35) were used to assess the quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer. Having collected data, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to analyze. The level of significance was considered as 0.05 in all the tests.Findings: There was a significant correlation between the site of the tumors in different regions of head and neck and the reduction in quality life due to thyroid dysfunction (P = 0.002). However, there was not any significant correlation between the quality life and total received dose, the grade of cancer, and the type of treatment.Conclusion: According to the results of this study and other researches, three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy with protection of organs at risk lead to satisfactory maintenance of normal tissues of head and neck regions after the treatment. This reveals the importance of using new techniques and methods to reduce the probability of normal tissue side effects and finally improve the quality life of the patients after taking the course of treatment.  
Keywords
Head and neck cancer
Three-Dimensional conformal radiotherapy
Quality of Life
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Journal of Isfahan Medical School
Volume 33, Issue 365 - Serial Number 365
November and December 2016
Pages 2302-2308

  • Receive Date 02 October 2015
  • Accept Date 06 April 2022