Advances in Management of Complications for Head and Neck Cancer Therapy

Increased use of the multimodality head and neck cancer (HNC) therapy has led to improvement in the local control, larynx preservation, and overall survival rates, leaving many HNC patients at risk for developing acute and late effects from treatment. The acute and late effects have resulted in substantial symptom burden and functional deficits in HNC population. The symptom control and functional issues associated with HNC and its aggressive treatment are complex, evolve over time, persist long term, and require frequent and ongoing assessment. In recent years, research efforts have focused on better understanding the supportive care needs in HNC patients across the trajectory of the disease treatment and recovery and developing new interventions to improve HNC patients’ overall quality of life. The aim of this chapter is to review symptom control issues in HNC, emphasizing areas in which interventions are feasible and have demonstrated improvement in patients’ outcome. Due to space limit, this chapter particularly focuses on the following areas: (1) nutrition and swallow function, (2) oral health, (3) acute and late musculoskeletal impairment (MSI), and (4) systemic effects.