Quality of life 5-10 years after primary surgery for oral and oro-pharyngeal cancer

This study reports the quality of life in long-term survivors of oral cancer treated by primary surgery. Two hundred and twenty patients were treated at the Regional Maxillofacial Unit between the years 1987 and 1992, of which 48 were alive and disease free in July 1997. Thirty-eight patients self-completed the following questionnaires: University of Washington Quality of Life Scale (UW-QOL), the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) core QOQ-C30 (v2) and the EORTC Head and Neck (H&N35). Results for this group were compared with the one year findings of a similar prospective cohort treated in 1995. Long-term survivors tended to report a good or excellent quality of life. Quality of life deficits in the long-term survivors were similar to those at one year. However, a larger longitudinal study is required to test this relationship more rigorously. The similarity of domain scores suggests that quality of life evaluation at one year is a useful marker of long-term outcome.