Improving the Palliative and the Supportive Care in Cancer Patients

The quality of life (QL) in oral cancer patients has become one of the most important parameters worth considering, in the diagnosis and the post-treatment follow-up. The purpose of this article was to review the papers which were published on the studies which were done on the QL in oral cancer patients, the clinical results which were obtained, and the systematic revisions which were available in the indexed literature for the last 10 years. The term QL has appeared as a keyword in an increasing number of articles throughout the past 10 years; however, only few studies had focused on oral cancer. Most of them had assessed all the head and neck cancers, which conformed to a heterogeneous group with several different features, depending on the location of the cancer (oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx, nasopharynx and the salivary glands). Most of the studies evaluate the QL in short periods of time, normally within the first year after the diagnosis. The data which are related to the QL are mostly related to the patient (age, sex, co-morbidity, etc), the tumour (location and size), and the treatment (surgical treatment, radiotherapy association, reconstruction, cervical dissection, and/or feeding tube). Nowadays, the assessment of the QL is considered as an essential component of an oral cancer patient, as well as of the survival, morbidity and the years which are free of disease. Although many aspects which are related to the QL in oral cancer patients have been published throughout the past 10 years, more systematic research is needed to be able to apply it on a daily basis.