Impact of Early Supportive Care Assessment on treatment decision in head and neck cancer before concomitant chemoradiotherapy.

Abstract

To assess the impact of a global pretherapeutic comprehensive supportive care assessment performed in an outpatient supportive care clinic (OSCC) and early supportive care interventions on oncological treatment choice in patients with chemoradiation (CRT) indication for head and neck cancer (HNC). In this monocentric prospective observational study, we included all patients considered for CRT (exclusive or post-operative) for HNC from February 2019 to March 2020. The following frailty indicators were assessed: comorbidities (Charlson index), nutritional status, altered functional ability (ADL and IADL), social precarity (EPICES score), cognitive impairment (MoCA score), addictive habits and pain. OSCC led to a change in treatment for 13.7% of patients, mainly de-escalations. Ninety-three percent of patients had at least one altered domain, including 50% with three or more altered domains. Cognitive function was the most frequently altered domain (66.7%). Altered functional ability was significantly associated with treatment de-escalation after OSCC. Treatment interruptions were significantly associated with treatment de-escalation and social precarity. De-escalation was also associated with a significantly poorer PFS (median of 23.2 mos. vs 8.8 mos., HR = 2.18 95%IC[1.02-4.63] p = 0.037)) and a non-significant trend towards worse OS (median 23.3mos. vs not reached (HR = 2.16 95%CI[0.88-5.31] p = 0.0836). We strongly encourage the creation of OSCC for patients treated with chemoradiation for HNC. This practice, through an exhaustive assessment, favours therapeutic adaptation, personalized follow-up and optimization of supportive care.