Análise da qualidade de vida dos pacientes submetidos à radioterapia para tratamento de neoplasias malignas em região de cabeça e pescoço do serviço da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Sobral, Ceará, Brasil

Abstract

With the aging of the population and the redefinition of living standards, there has been an increase in the number of malignant neoplasms, including Head and Neck Cancer (HNC). HNC can have a negative and often devastating impact on a patient's quality of life (QoL). These neoplasms can cause significant changes in the vital functions of affected individuals related to eating, breathing, communication and social interaction. More than 80% of patients who seek specialized treatment are already in an advanced stage of the disease, in which the probability of cure is very low, leading to the implementation of a treatment, which often negatively affects the individual's quality of life. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the impact of radiotherapy (RT) on the quality of life of patients with head and neck cancer treated at the Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Sobral service. The sample included 18 patients who received radiotherapy between August 2020 and August 2021. Clinical-pathological, sociodemographic and lifestyle information was collected through a survey of medical records. The application of the Quality of Life Questionnaire (UW-QOL version 4) was performed during consultations at 2 different moments T1 (between the 1st and 12th treatment sessions) and T2 (between the 13th and 35th treatment sessions). Data between the two evaluation periods were compared using the Wilcoxon or McNemar test (p < 0.05). The profiles were predominantly male (94.4%) with a mean age of 61.61 years. Of these patients, 72.2% were diagnosed with stage I/II squamous cell carcinoma (66.7), predominantly oropharynx. 61.1% of patients reported being smokers and 38.9% were alcoholics. Appearance (p=0.036), recreation (p=0.016), swallowing (p=0.022), chewing (p=0.022), taste (p=0.007), saliva (p=0.048) and mood (p=0.046) showed differences significant between T1 and T2 with lower scores. Health QL scores and RT sessions were not significantly different. T1 patients had a lower frequency of some type of major problem in the last seven days. Thus, it is concluded that RT had a negative impact on QoL throughout the treatment. Thus, assessing how RT affects the patient's quality of life is therefore essential to develop and optimize care at each stage of treatment, with a multidisciplinary team and the inclusion of a dentist being essential.