Quality of Life in Patients of Head and Neck Cancer During Covid 19.

The Indian Institute of head and neck oncology, a charitable Cancer Centre under the Indore Cancer foundation, continued to offer treatment during the Covid pandemic. 44 head and neck cancer patients who underwent surgery with adjuvant radiotherapy and 43 head and neck cancer patients who underwent only radiotherapy as the primary line of treatment from March 2020 to May 2021, were selected for the purpose of this study. Patients who underwent treatment for head and neck cancer either by radiotherapy or by surgery followed by post-operative radiotherapy were analysed to evaluate quality of life. Feedback was obtained using a QOL questionnaire. The results were analysed against numerical scores. Pain, appearance, speech, swallowing, chewing taste sensation etc. were analysed. Fear and psychological discomfort remained the overriding aspect.

Head and neck surgery during COVID-19.

Thirty-two Head and Neck cancer patients were operated by surgical team of the Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology (IIHNO) in a period ranging from May 2020 to the first week of December 2020. Surgical procedures ranged from surgery for tongue cancer, resection of cancers of the oral mucosa/cheek (with or without reconstruction), as well as surgery for paranasal cancers and thyroid cancers, with an average duration of 3 h for the procedures. This article reviews this experience during the peak of covid pandemic regarding the approaches adopted by the team of the IIHNO, a flagship project of the Indore Cancer Foundation, a public charitable trust.