Quality of life and functional status of terminally ill head and neck cancer patients: a nation-wide, prospective observational study at tertiary cancer centers in Japan

Background: Little is known about quality of life and functional status of patients with terminally ill head and neck cancers. Methods: We conducted a multicenter, prospective, observational study to examine quality of life and functional status in terminally ill head and neck cancer patients. Results: Of the 100 patients meeting inclusion criteria, 72 were observed until death. There was no significant difference in the quality of life score between baseline and Week 3. Forty patients (54.9%) could speak and 22 patients (30.5%) could have oral intake upon study entry. Fifty-three patients (74.6%) received enteral nutrition. Twenty-six patients (36.6%) required dressing changes for fungating tumors. The route of nutritional intake (nasogastric tube vs. percutaneous gastric tube) might be predictive for the duration of hospital stay (64 vs. 21 days, P = 0.0372). Conclusion: There was no significant relationship between quality of life and functional status seen in this study. Feeding tube type could have the most impact on quality of life.