Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) may be at risk for significant late effects after treatment, but they're unlikely to discuss it with their doctors, according to a new University of Pennsylvania study.
The researchers say the study reinforces the need to improve survivorship care for patients, better educate patients about possible late effects, and encourage them to report these problems to their healthcare providers.
Their findings will be presented today at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago, according to a university press release.
The study authors gathered Internet data from nearly 4,000 cancer survivors between April 2010 and October 2011 via patients who completed a questionnaire from the university's online cancer resource. Approximately 4% of the patients had been treated for a primary HNC. Of those, nearly 88% had undergone radiation, 73% surgery, and 67% chemotherapy.
Many patients reported late effects such as difficulty swallowing/speaking (83%), decreased saliva production (88%), thyroid problems (33%), decreased neck mobility (60%), concerns regarding cognitive function (53%), or vision deficits. However, since results show that patients only discuss the survivorship care plans they created on Penn's site with their healthcare providers in 55% of cases, the researchers are concerned that many of these symptoms are not being reported or treated.
The most common reasons for patients not sharing their survivorship care plans with healthcare providers were "I did not think they would care," and "I did not want to upset or anger them," the researchers noted.
