A117

Return to work in head and neck cancer patients after radical curative therapy

Sheila Fisher, Aine Donnelly, Aditya Vikram, Alexander Newsham, Colin Johnston, Adam Smith, Peter Selby, Galina Velikova

University of Leeds, UK

Background

Head and neck cancer poses challenges in terms of specific effects of therapy and socio-demographic profile which may impact on return to work.

Aim

To establish:

(1) return to paid employment

(2) return to previous employment

(3) impact on employment of stage of disease and complexity of therapy

Method

Patients treated for oral or laryngeal cancer and free of recurrence were invited to participate. Demographic, disease and treatment details and occupation were recorded.

Participants were allocated to early (single modality) or late (multimodality) treatment groups.

Results

Of 140 patients, 61 described themselves as working age. Of the early group, 18 were working at diagnosis, 14 of whom continued in the same job. Of the late group, 24 were working at diagnosis, 11 of whom retained the same post. For late larynx, only 1 out of 5 patients retained their previous employment.

Conclusion

Return to work is usually possible for those with early disease but less likely in advanced disease and patients with late laryngeal cancer fare particularly poorly.

Acknowledgements

To BAOMS and the Charitable Trustees of LTHT for funding the study

To the H&N MDT at LTHT for allowing their patients to participate