Patient-reported outcomes in head and neck cancer treatment: relevance, challenges, and benefit

Abstract

Next to overall survival, quality of life is becoming more and more pivotal for cancer patients. The various domains of quality of life are complex and have different value to each patient. However, not only patients but also health care professionals, the pharmaceutical industry, and regulatory bodies ask: How can quality of life be reliably ascertained in clinical trials? For this purpose, carefully developed and validated specific questionnaires are needed: the patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Akey challenge is to define how results based on PROMs can be used for shared decision-making. Next to clinical factors such as health and nutritional status, quality of life acts as aprognostic factor for overall survival in cancer. Thus, it is crucial to take quality of life into account in daily clinical practice.