Late toxicity-related symptoms and fraction dose affect decision regret among patients receiving adjuvant radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.

Abstract

Decision regret reflects patient satisfaction with treatment choice and is associated with quality of life. This study aimed to identify patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics and post-treatment symptoms associated with decision regret among patients with head and neck cancer who underwent surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy. In this cross-sectional study, patients completed a questionnaire during a telephone interview. The questionnaire included the Decision Regret Scale (DRS) and several specific symptom-related items. By the time of data collection, all patients had concluded their radiotherapy a minimum of 2 months and maximum of 3.3 years prior. Among the 108 patients included, 40.5% reported no regret, 30.1% reported mild regret, and 29.4% reported moderate to strong regret. A higher DRS score was most strongly associated with a lower single fraction dose and more restriction in everyday life. Higher DRS scores were also correlated with trouble speaking, trouble swallowing, pain in irradiated areas, dissatisfaction with one's appearance, feeling sad, and worry over one's future health. Based on these findings, we recommended that patients with head and neck cancer undergoing adjuvant radiation receive psychosocial support and adequate treatment of late toxicity-related symptoms. When confronted with different therapeutic options, radiotherapy with a higher single fraction dose (i.e., hypofractionation) may be preferred due to its association with lower decision regret.