Participants
Participants were prospectively recruited from the cohort of consecutive patients referred to the Combined Head and Neck Clinic (CHNC) at a large tertiary hospital in Brisbane between September 2013 and November 2014. For inclusion, all patients had to have at least one parotid gland affected by either primary, metastatic or recurrent disease, and were planned to receive either definitive XRT or surgery with postoperative XRT to a prescription dose of 60Gy or greater. Patients were excluded from the study if they were managed by surgery only, or received a dose of less than 60Gy. The study was conducted with ethical clearance from the Metro North Hospital and Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number: HREC/13/QRBW/444), …show more content…
Specific dysphagia-related toxicities included oral mucositis, pharyngeal mucositis, dysgeusia, xerostomia, salivary duct inflammation (thick saliva), nausea and dysphagia. The CTCAE uses 2, 3, and 5 level scales depending on the toxicity, where 0 represents no symptom presence and higher scale scores represent increasing severity, with functional descriptors provided to guide ratings of each symptom by severity. The toxicities and their rating scales used in this study are detailed in Appendix …show more content…
At week 1, 90% (n=18) of the patients were managing a full non-restricted normal diet (FOIS level 7). This was observed to decrease over time to week 6/7 where highest proportion (60%, n=15) of patients requiring modified diets (FOIS level <7) was noted (Figure 1). Following completion of XRT, a general pattern of improvement was noted, with 81% (n=13) managing a full non-restricted oral diet by 12 weeks after
Participants were prospectively recruited from the cohort of consecutive patients referred to the Combined Head and Neck Clinic (CHNC) at a large tertiary hospital in Brisbane between September 2013 and November 2014. For inclusion, all patients had to have at least one parotid gland affected by either primary, metastatic or recurrent disease, and were planned to receive either definitive XRT or surgery with postoperative XRT to a prescription dose of 60Gy or greater. Patients were excluded from the study if they were managed by surgery only, or received a dose of less than 60Gy. The study was conducted with ethical clearance from the Metro North Hospital and Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number: HREC/13/QRBW/444), …show more content…
Specific dysphagia-related toxicities included oral mucositis, pharyngeal mucositis, dysgeusia, xerostomia, salivary duct inflammation (thick saliva), nausea and dysphagia. The CTCAE uses 2, 3, and 5 level scales depending on the toxicity, where 0 represents no symptom presence and higher scale scores represent increasing severity, with functional descriptors provided to guide ratings of each symptom by severity. The toxicities and their rating scales used in this study are detailed in Appendix …show more content…
At week 1, 90% (n=18) of the patients were managing a full non-restricted normal diet (FOIS level 7). This was observed to decrease over time to week 6/7 where highest proportion (60%, n=15) of patients requiring modified diets (FOIS level <7) was noted (Figure 1). Following completion of XRT, a general pattern of improvement was noted, with 81% (n=13) managing a full non-restricted oral diet by 12 weeks after