SALIVARY GLAND FUNCTION AFTER CONCURRENT CHEMORADIOTHERAPY

Abstract

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy for cancer of head and neck is becoming more and more prevalent. In fact, it is considered to better maintain QOL of patients than operative treatment in terms of preserving the functions, organs, and structures, but recently I seems that it does not maintain the QOL of patients better than operative treatment because its complications after therapy disturb daily life. We previously conducted a questionnaire survey that investigated the complications experienced by patients who received concurrent chemoradiotherapy, and reported that xerostomia was markedly reduced QOL in these patients. In this study, we divided patients who were exposed to radiation in both major salivary glands into two groups: 20 patients who received a 36 Gy dose of radiation (36 Gy group) and 15 patients who underwent radiation therapy alone at a dose of 40 Gy (RT group). The gum test was conducted with the following results (mean volume of saliva): 11.2 ml in the 36 Gy group, 6.0 ml in the RT group. There was no significant difference between the 36 Gy group and RT group. Our findings suggest that there is no significant difference in the extent of salivary gland dysfunction even after chemotherapy is carried out concurrently with radiotherapy.