Trial Information

RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY For Head And Neck Cancer Patients: A Prospective Analysis Of Quality Of Life And Symptom Relief

This prospective, longitudinal study will evaluate patient-reported quality of life and
symptomatology immediately prior to and for up to one year following surgical resection and
reconstruction head and neck malignancies.Patients with head and neck malignancies that
require simultaneous surgical resection and reconstruction of the ablative defect will be
eligible to participate.Quality of life and symptom relief will be evaluated by both domain
and disease specific questionnaires at four time points: pre-operatively, and 3 months (±1
month), 6 months (±1), and 9 months (-1 and +3) post-operatively. These assessment points
represent clinically significant events in patients' post-operative course following head
and neck surgery. Studies have shown that quality of life decreases significantly at three
months after surgery but then reapproaches baseline levels around one year (1).
Pre-operative responses will serve as the baseline for comparison.