Long-term quality-of-life evaluation after head and neck cancer treatment in a developing country.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the long-term quality of life of patients treated for head and neck cancer at a single institution in a developing country. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of a consecutive series of patients. SETTING: Tertiary cancer center hospital in Brazil. PATIENTS: Eligible subjects included patients treated between 1974 and 1999 for head and neck carcinoma who had a minimum disease-free survival of 2 years and who completed a Portuguese version of the University of Washington Quality of Life (UW-QOL) questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Descriptive analyses of the results and comparisons of the scores for each UW-QOL domain, stratified by tumor site, were performed using nonparametric tests. RESULTS: Findings from 344 patients were analyzed. Of the study population, 140 (41%) had survived 2 to 5 years, 125 (36%) had survived 5 to 10 years, and 79 (23%) had survived more than 10 years since treatment. Primary tumor sites were in the oral cavity in 43.3% of cases, the oropharynx in 20.9%, the larynx in 32.0%, and the hypopharynx in 3.8%. In terms of treatment, 33.1% underwent surgery alone; 16.9%, radiotherapy alone; and 50% underwent combined treatment. Overall, 78.5% of the patients classified their own health as good or excellent. Stratified analysis showed that impairment in chewing and swallowing was more common in patients with oral and oropharyngeal tumors than in those with larynx and hypopharynx tumors, and speech impairment was more frequently related to patients with larynx and hypopharynx tumors than to those with oral and oropharynx tumors. In all tumor sites, the composite scores were significantly worse in advanced tumors than early stage tumors, but the use of combined treatment had the greatest negative impact on quality-of-life scores, after we adjusted for T and N stage with multivariable analyses (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: The Portuguese version of the UW-QOL questionnaire was an effective tool to evaluate quality of life in a Brazilian population. Although many patients reported some limitations, most reported a good to excellent long-term quality of life.

Voice and vocal self-assessment after thyroidectomy.

BACKGROUND: Voice alterations after thyroidectomy can be found even with preserved function of laryngeal nerves. The purpose of this study was to evaluate voice before and after thyroid surgery and the role of orotracheal intubation on voice changes. METHODS: We conducted a prospective nonrandomized study of patients who underwent thyroid surgery and compared the results with a control group of patients who underwent breast surgery. Subjects underwent a videolaryngoscopic exam, a subjective and an objective voice analysis and a Voice Handicap Index (VHI) questionnaire before and after surgery. RESULTS: A total of 100 patients who underwent thyroidectomy and 30 who underwent breast surgery were studied. Both groups were similar in demographic, clinical, and surgical variables. Postoperative videolaryngoscopy showed larynx alterations in 28% of the thyroidectomized patients, without significant alterations in the control group. There were subjective voice changes in 29.7% of the patients without vocal fold immobility after thyroid surgery and no statistically significant changes after breast surgery. Acoustic analysis showed significant increased values in the voice turbulence index (VTI) parameter in both groups, although higher in the thyroid one. In the VHI assessment, voice complaints were more frequently registered in the thyroid group rather than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Voice alterations are frequent after thyroidectomy even with preserved vocal fold mobility. Such alterations were more frequently detected in that group than in patients who underwent breast surgery. Orotracheal intubation is just one of the multiple factors involved.

Initial Results and Clinical Application of Non Dedicated 18-FDG/PET in Head and Neck Oncology

Imaging procedures are important methods for properstage and treatment planning. Especially in previouslytreated patients, although not perfectly accurate. PETscan is a functional and imaging technique that has beenused to diagnose and stage recurrent cancer fromdifferent sites. The combination of computedtomography coupled with FDG-PET (18-FDG-PET/CT)reaches high quality anatomical and functional images.OBJECTIVE: To describe the initial results of FDG-PET/CT performed at a single institution. MATERIAL ANDMETHODS: This technique was used in 63 patients withhead and neck tumors. The purpose of the exam was: a)to rule out recurrent disease - 55 patients; b) to search forhidden primary tumor - 2 patients; and c) postoperativefollow-up of residual disease - 6 patients. Computedtomography (CT) was performed in 56 cases (88.9%).Pathological confirmation was obtained in 24 cases(38.1%), all the remaining cases were considered negativebased on clinical follow-up information with no evidenceof recurrent disease 12 months after the PET/CT exam.RESULTS: Overall results for the accuracy of FDG-PETwere: 93.9% of sensitivity, 64.2% of specificity, 75.6% ofpositive predictive value and 90.0% of negativepredictive value. FDG-PET was able to find 1 out of 2undetected primary tumors (base of the tongue). Thebest results were obtained regarding the detection oflocal and distant recurrences of larynx, thyroid and oralcavity cancers. CONCLUSION: The FDG-PET/CT fusionimage makes anatomical localization easier and theaccuracy for detection of recurrent disease was found tobe higher than CT alone.

Sarcoma granulocítico de mama / Granulocytic sarcoma of breast

Sarcoma granulocítico é uma neoplasia maligna extramedular rara composta de mieloblastos e outros precursores granulocíticos que acomete pacientes leucêmicos. Manifesta-se menos comumente como precursor de leucemia e, nestes casos, o intervalo entre o tumor inicial e o aparecimento de sinais e sintomas de leucemia é de 6 meses em média. Raramente se apresenta como lesäo isolada sem manifestaçäo da leucemia. Relatos anteriores demonstram uma tendência ao tratamento quimioterápico sistêmico igual aquele preconizado para pacientes com leucemia mielóide aguda, mesmo quando ausente, acompanhado de radioterapia local. O presente estudo descreve uma paciente com diagnóstico de sarcoma granulocítico de mama em maio de 1987, com lesäo isolada, sem evidências de leucemia. Foi tratada com ressecçäo segmentar de mama e radioterapia, permanecendo assintomática sem recorrência neste período de 8 anos de acompanhamento.