Long-term quality of life in patients with maxillofacial malignancies who have undergone craniofacial resection: a cross-sectional survivorship study

Abstract

<h3>Purpose</h3><p>The purposes were to investigate the postoperative, long-term <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/quality-of-life" title="Learn more about quality of life from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">quality of life</a> (QoL) of patients with maxillofacial <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/cancer" title="Learn more about malignancies from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">malignancies</a> who underwent craniofacial resections that involved the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/skull-base" title="Learn more about skull base from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">skull base</a> and to screen for potential predictors of QoL.</p><h3>Patients and Methods</h3><p>We reviewed all patients who had undergone craniofacial resections as identified by the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/electronic-patient-record" title="Learn more about electronic medical record from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">electronic medical record</a> system from 2013 onward; we then applied our eligibility criteria to generate the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/cohort-analysis" title="Learn more about study cohort from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">study cohort</a>. Each patient was asked to complete the Skull Base Inventory, a questionnaire that is scored from 0 to 100, during his or her regular postoperative follow-up. All demographic information and clinicopathologic variables were then collected and analyzed.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>A total of 25 patients who received treatment between March 2013 and March 2018 were consecutively enrolled and surveyed at 6 to 42 months (median, 15 months). The age at diagnosis ranged from 23 to 81 years (median, 42 years), with a female-to-male ratio of 1.1:1.0. The mean score for QoL was 67.56 ± 16.35. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/univariate-analysis" title="Learn more about Univariate analysis from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">Univariate analysis</a> found that being in the subgroup aged 20 to 40 years (β = –12.87 [95% confidence interval (CI), –25.54 to –0.21], <em>P</em> = .047), having the mesenchymal pathologic subtype (β = –18.80 [95% CI, –34.05 to –3.54], <em>P</em> = .018), and having involvement of the middle <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/skull-base" title="Learn more about skull base from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">skull base</a> (β = –15.00 [95% CI, –28.33 to –1.68], <em>P</em> = .029) could all significantly impact long-term QoL. A <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/multiple-linear-regression-analysis" title="Learn more about multiple linear regression from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">multiple linear regression</a> model (<em>R</em>² = 36.4%, <em>P</em> = .007) included the latter 2 factors (β = –16.82 [95% CI, –31.06 to –2.59], <em>P</em> = .023, and β = –13.14 [95% CI, –25.35 to –0.94], <em>P</em> = .036, respectively).</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The location of the involved skull base may be used as a guide for the surgical approach or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/incision" title="Learn more about incision from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">incision</a> design to improve patients' long-term QoL. However, this should not take precedence over the nature of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/cancer" title="Learn more about malignancies from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">malignancies</a> as the pathologic subtype implied that patients with mesenchymal malignancies may pay the price of better QoL to survive.</p>