ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Quality of life in patients with acute pharyngitis or tonsillitis is significantly lower than in healthy persons, and it should be taken into account when efficacy of new therapeutic options is investigated. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a reliable instrument that can measure quality of life in adult outpatients with sore throat caused by acute pharyngitis or acute tonsillitis. METHOD: The study was of a cross-sectional type, and assessed reliability and validity of newly developed questionnaire for measurement of quality of life in adult outpatients with sore throat (STQoL) caused by acute pharyngitis or acute tonsillitis. It was conducted on a sample of 282 patients, with mean age 39.0 ± 14.8 years, male/female ratio 104/178 (36.9%/63.1%). RESULTS: Final version of the STQoL scale with 21 items showed excellent reliability, with Cronbach's alpha 0.949. It was temporally stable, and both divergent and convergent validity tests had good results. Factorial analysis revealed three domains, Social/psychic aspects, Physical aspects and Environmental aspects of sore throat related quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: The STQoL scale is reliable and valid specific instrument for measuring sore throat related quality of life, which is an important treatment outcome in patients with acute pharyngitis or tonsillitis.
ABSTRACT
Differentiated thyroid cancers include papillary and follicular carcinomas, both originating from follicular epithelium. Treatment of choice is usually total or near total thyroidectomy, followed by ablative radioiodine 131I treatment, and by the long-term administration of thyroid hormone. Despite its excellent prognosis, recurrent disease does occur in approximately 20-40% of patients. Guidelines for the follow-up management of differentiated thyroid cancer are commonly based on circulating thyrogobulin measurement in the complete absence of eutopic thyroid tissue. A retrospective review was conducted on 116 patients (66 papillary and 50 follicular carcinoma, mean age 51.2 years) who had undergone total or near total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine remnant ablation. Serum thyroglobulin (Tg) and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) levels were measured preoperatively, 1 month after thyroidectomy (before 131I treatment) and 6 and 12 months after ablation therapy (Tg1, TgAb1 and Tg2, TgAb2, respectively). During one year of follow-up, in a total of 24 patients (21%) recurrent disease were confirmed by ultrasonography and whole-body-scanning, mostly. It was found significant correlation between serum Tg levels (measured preoperatively and postoperatively) and recurrent diseases (p < 0.05), while serum TgAb levels did not have any statistical significance. However, in multivariate regression analysis only Tg levels measured 12 months after the therapy (Tg2) remained a significant predictor of recurrent disease (p = 0.008). Although a high Tg level before surgery does not indicate that tumor is present, in the postoperative period and after ablative therapy Tg has proven predictive value because stimulated Tg levels above 10 ng/ml confirmed that indicate residual or recurrent cancer, and its periodically measurements is recommended.
