Abstract
Background In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of surgical procedures on the body image of head and neck cancer patients treated with radiotherapy and with or without radical surgery.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of 150 patients with head and neck cancer was conducted. Sixty patients had nasopharyngeal cancer treated with definitive radiotherapy without surgery, and 90 patients had oral cavity cancer treated with radical surgery plus adjuvant radiotherapy. All participants completed a 10-item Body Image Scale (BIS) questionnaire to assess body image dissatisfaction. Among all patients, the socio-demographic and clinical variables were age, gender, partnership, education, employment, and radical surgery. In surgically-treated patients, the clinical variables were facial skin sacrificed, mouth angle sacrificed, glossectomy, maxillectomy, and mandibulectomy. ANOVAs, t-tests, and multiple regressions were used to evaluate the relationships between these variables and BIS results.ResultsIn all patients, radical surgery was the strongest independent predictor of BIS scores. Surgically-treated patients had significantly worse BIS scores than the patients without surgery. In surgically-treated patients, facial skin sacrificed, mouth angle sacrificed, maxillectomy, and mandibulectomy were significantly associated with body image. According to multivariable analyses, inferior maxillectomy and segmental mandibulectomy were independent prognosticators of a poor BIS score in surgically-treated patients.ConclusionRadical surgery for head and neck cancer patients has a significant impact on their body image, especially for those undergoing facial bone destructive surgery.
Highlights
In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of surgical procedures on the body image of head and neck cancer patients treated with radiotherapy and with or without radical surgery
Among the 150 head and neck cancer (HNC) patients enrolled in this study, 60 patients were treated for nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) with definitive radiotherapy but no surgery, and 90 patients were treated for oral cavity cancer (OCC) with radical surgery plus adjuvant radiotherapy
We found that radical surgery for HNC patients was a significant factor in body image dissatisfaction, and the three surgical procedures were independent prognosticators of body image outcomes in surgically treated patients
Summary
We aimed to investigate the impact of surgical procedures on the body image of head and neck cancer patients treated with radiotherapy and with or without radical surgery. Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) usually experience significant issues with body image because of visible disfigurement and organ dysfunction from both the disease itself and the treatment [2]. Due to the paucity of body image research on HNC patients treated with radiation therapy, we initiated this cross-sectional study to investigate body image outcomes in irradiated HNC patients. We were interested in whether the different treatment methods used (surgical vs non-surgical treatment) among patients with various types of HNC influenced body image. We wished to assess the impacts of different surgical procedures on the body image of surgically treated irradiated HNC patients
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