Change in Symptom Clusters in HNC Patients Undergoing Postoperative Radiotherapy: A Longitudinal Study

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide, causing more than 379,000 deaths in 2015 notwithstanding the breakthrough in cancer screening and medical treatment. The primary treatment for HNC is a combination of surgery and radiotherapy, either delivered preoperatively or postoperatively. Although these treatments, especially the postoperative radiotherapy can greatly improve the survival of patients, they still have to pay a high price for numerous symptoms induced by radiation. On the other hand, research on symptoms clusters is an emerging field in oncology which aims to understand the complexity of multiple symptoms experienced by cancer patients. A thorough understanding of symptom clusters help informs the development of comprehensive care plans which target a group of symptoms that is likely to coexist, thus easing the total symptom burden in cancer patients.To date, there has been a paucity of evidence regarding symptom clusters of HNC. To address the gap in existing literature, this study described the symptom clusters among HNC patients who were treated with surgery with a combination of postoperative radiotherapy. In addition, a longitudinal approach was employed to examine the change in symptom clusters throughout the treatment course.