QUALITY OF LIFE OUTCOMES AFTER SURGICAL TREATMENT FOR MANDIBULAR AMELOBLASTOMAS

Abstract

Objective To evaluate Quality of Life (QoL) scores in patients who underwent surgical treatment of mandibular ameloblastomas without secondary reconstructive surgery. Study Design This is a single-center cross-sectional study conducted at a tertiary care Brazilian hospital. QoL was assessed using University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire for patients with Head and Neck Cancer (UW-QOL) and Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire. Mann-Whitney and independent t-test were used to assess the association of QoL scores with predictive variables. Results Twenty individuals were enrolled, most of whom were male (70%), with a mean age of 29.55±13.28 years. Ten individuals (50%) underwent at least one radical surgical resection. Most of the participants reported an impairment in 'Appearance', 'Chewing', 'Speech' and 'Anxiety' domains of UW-QOL. Mean OHIP-14 score was 4.75±3.36. Worst OHIP-14 scores were associated with anterior tooth loss due to the tumor (p = 0.013). The overall and health-related QoL was rated as 'Good' in 65% and 45% of the cases, respectively. Conclusion Surgical treatment for mandibular ameloblastomas has a significative functional and esthetic impairment in patients' QoL. However, surgical modality and tumor recurrence did not seem to affect QoL. Only anterior tooth loss was a significant predictive factor of worst QoL scores. To evaluate Quality of Life (QoL) scores in patients who underwent surgical treatment of mandibular ameloblastomas without secondary reconstructive surgery. This is a single-center cross-sectional study conducted at a tertiary care Brazilian hospital. QoL was assessed using University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire for patients with Head and Neck Cancer (UW-QOL) and Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire. Mann-Whitney and independent t-test were used to assess the association of QoL scores with predictive variables. Twenty individuals were enrolled, most of whom were male (70%), with a mean age of 29.55±13.28 years. Ten individuals (50%) underwent at least one radical surgical resection. Most of the participants reported an impairment in 'Appearance', 'Chewing', 'Speech' and 'Anxiety' domains of UW-QOL. Mean OHIP-14 score was 4.75±3.36. Worst OHIP-14 scores were associated with anterior tooth loss due to the tumor (p = 0.013). The overall and health-related QoL was rated as 'Good' in 65% and 45% of the cases, respectively. Surgical treatment for mandibular ameloblastomas has a significative functional and esthetic impairment in patients' QoL. However, surgical modality and tumor recurrence did not seem to affect QoL. Only anterior tooth loss was a significant predictive factor of worst QoL scores.