Comparisons of quality of life for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma after treatment with different RT technologies

The objectives of this study were determine the quality of life (QoL) for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after treatment with different advanced technologies in radiotherapy (RT). A total of 150 patients with NPC were consecutively treated using curative RT in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Tri-service General Hospital in Taiwan. Data were collected prospectively from medical records and questionnaires. We used the Short-Form-36 (SF36) health survey questionnaire to evaluate general QoL, and a modified EORTC QLQH& N35 questionnaire to evaluate the correlation of xerostomia with QoL. The selection of RT methodology among two-dimensional radiotherapy (2D-RT), three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) was a significant factor for predicting difficulty of speech (P = 0.003), difficulty in chewing (P = 0.012), swallowing ability (P = 0.004), dry throat sensation during meals (P = 0.006) and the frequency of drinking water to maintain a moist mouth (P = 0.01). Our data suggest that the intensity-modulated radiotherapy technique plays a significant role in improving the QoL of NPC patients in our study.