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No description available.

Background: Radiation therapy used for head and neck cancer patients cause many side effects in the oral cavity and above all affects the salivary glands. Complaint of dry mouth (xerostomia) and hyposalivation are common as well as swallowing difficulty (dysphagia) even after the cancer is remitted.  Aim: The aim of the study is to examine the correlation between hyposalivation and xerostomia in patients undergoing radiotherapy.   Methods: Six patients undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck cancer at Norrlands University Hospital participated in the study. A questionnaire regarding xerostomia was answered and a collection of stimulated as well as unstimulated saliva was taken.  Results: Regarding the stimulated salivary flowrate, one out six patients was below the limit of hyposalivation. Three out of six patients were below the limit of hyposalivation with reference to the unstimulated salivary output. The questionnaire regarding xerostomia showed that all patients experienced dry mouth symptoms to varying degrees. The questions concerning the dryness of the tongue and the amount of saliva in the mouth had the highest rating.  Conclusion: Regarding the patients that participated in this study, a correlation is shown between xerostomia and unstimulated salivary output. However, due to the lack of participants in the study, no firm conclusion can be drawn.

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Malignant vascular tumors of the head and neck are rare neoplasms with variable clinical presentation, wide age distribution, and variable clinical courses. The heterogeneous presentation of angiosarcomas and epithelioid hemangioendothelioma often leads to misdiagnosis and unsuitable treatment. While risk factors for angiosarcomas are previous radiation, chronic lymphedema, and exposure to arsenic, thorium oxide, or vinyl chloride, there are only limited and retrospective data available on prognostic factors in EHE. In both angiosarcomas and EHE, surgery is the mainstay of treatment. There is limited evidence regarding the role of radiotherapy in EHE, although EHE is considered relatively radiosensitive. In angiosarcomas, adjuvant radiotherapy is recommended according to retrospective case series. A standard medical therapy for metastasized malignant vascular tumors is lacking. Chemotherapy, which is effective in angiosarcoma, is mostly ineffective in EHE. Targeted therapy, antiangiogenetic drugs and immunotherapy have been studied as new treatment options. The goal of this review is to summarize the current data regarding malignant vascular tumors along with their diagnosis and management.

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC)-specific symptoms have a substantial impact on health-related quality of life. The aim of this study was to determine whether self-reported dysphagia, voice problems and pain of HNC patients changed over time and whether specific clinical or sociodemographic variables were associated with these symptoms. Methods: HNC patients (n = 299) in an outpatient setting answered questionnaires (Eating Assessment Tool-10; questions from the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC H&N35) on dysphagia, voice problems and pain, collected with the software “OncoFunction” at three different timepoints (t1–t3) after diagnosis. The mean score changes from t1 to t3 were expressed in terms of effect sizes d. The impact of sociodemographic and clinical factors on the course of the variables was tested with multivariate analyses of variance. Results: Dysphagia, voice impairment and pain in HNC survivors significantly improved over a period of approximately 14 months after diagnosis. Tumor site, stage, treatment modality, occupational state and ECOG state were significantly correlated with self-reported functional outcome. The pain level of the HNC patients was rather low. Conclusions: Patients suffer from functional impairments after HNC treatment, but an improvement in self-reported symptoms could be demonstrated within this time period.

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No description available.

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I Sverige drabbas 1000 personer varje år av huvud- och halscancer. Rökning är den största enskilda orsaken till denna typ av cancer. Att motivera patienterna till att sluta röka är angeläget då fortsatt rökning har negativ inverkan på behandlings-resultatet samt förvärrar biverkningarna av behandlingen. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka om patienter med huvud- och halscancer fick information om rökning och rökavvänjning inför och under strålbehandling, vad denna informa-tion innehöll samt att beskriva hur patienten upplevde informationen. Metoden var en intervjustudie som genomfördes på strålbehandlingsavdelningen, UMAS, Malmö. Åtta intervjuer genomfördes och resultatet visade att endast tre informan-ter erhållit information kring rökavvänjning från läkare och onkologisjuksköters-kor på strålbehandlingsavdelningen. Alla informanterna hade berättat för läkarna att de rökte men majoriteten upplevde inte att någon notis tagits vid denna infor-mation. En informant hade bett om hjälp för att sluta röka men avråtts av läkare vilket han upplevde som väldigt negativt. De som fått information kring rökav-vänjning upplevde detta som positivt samt kände att de blivit bekräftade. Majoriteten av informanterna hade velat delta i rökavvänjningsintervention om sådan funnits på kliniken. Det dagliga mötet mellan onkologisjuksköterskor och patienter på en strålbehandlingsavdelning innebär en möjlighet för sjuksköterskan att informera, stödja och bekräfta patienten i en rökavvänjningsintervention. / In Sweden 1000 individuals are diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year. Smoking is the major, single cause of this type of cancer. Motivating the patients to quit smoking is of great importance since smoking during treatment increases risks for treatment failure and increased side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate if patients with head and neck cancer received information about smoking and smoking cessation before and during radiation therapy, the content of the information and to describe patients' experience of the information. The method was an interview study and took place in the Department of radiation therapy, UMAS, Malmö. Eight interviews were carried out and the findings showed that only three respondents had received information of smoking cessa-tion from doctors or oncology nurses in the Department of radiation therapy. All of the respondents had informed the doctor of their smoking habit but the majority experienced that they were left without any response. One respondent had asked for smoking cessation aid but had been recommended not to quit smoking during treatment, which he had experienced as very negative. The patients who had re-ceived smoking cessation information experienced this information positive and felt both confirmed and supported. The majority of the respondents would have liked to participate in a smoking cessation intervention if such was available at the department. The daily meeting between nurses and patients in the Department of radiation therapy means an opportunity to give information, support and to con-firm the patient in a smoking cessation intervention.