Head and neck radiotherapyDoes radiation dose to the salivary glands and oral cavity predict patient-rated xerostomia and sticky saliva in head and neck cancer patients treated with curative radiotherapy?☆
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Patients
Patients eligible for this study were those with stage I–IVB [16] squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, nasopharynx and/or larynx. All patients were treated with primary or postoperative radiotherapy with curative intent, with a minimal life expectancy of 12 months. A good understanding of Dutch language was required to be able to complete the questionnaire. Excluded were those with distant metastases (M1), previously irradiated patients, patients treated in
Compliance
Of the 125 patients available for analysis of patient-rated xerostomia, 111 out of 113 patients at risk (98%) returned the questionnaire at 6 months. The compliance at 12 months after radiotherapy was 94 out of 94 patients at risk (100%). Of the 129 patients available for analysis of patient-rated sticky saliva, 115 out of 119 patients at risk (97%) returned the questionnaire at 6 months. The compliance at 12 months after radiotherapy was 103 out of 109 patients at risk (94%).
Changes in patient-rated xerostomia
At baseline, the
Discussion
Xerostomia is an important symptom after radiotherapy in the head and neck area affecting daily life [2]. Many studies have been published discussing the role of the dose in the parotid glands in radiation-induced xerostomia [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [21], [22], [23], [24].
The results of our study show that both the MDpar and MDsubm are the most important predictive factors for patient-rated xerostomia. Moreover, the probability of developing MS-XER as a function of MDpar 6 months
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Conflict of interest. The authors have no conflict of interest in connection with the paper.