Development of a chemoradiation therapy toxicity staging system for oropharyngeal carcinoma

Develop an innovative tool to standardize representation of treatment toxicity and enable shared decision making by mapping provider-based outcome descriptions to four overall stages of toxicity from chemoradiation therapy for oropharyngeal carcinoma.

Cross-sectional, provider-based questionnaire.

Five short-term and five long-term treatment outcomes of cisplatin and intensity-modulated radiation therapy for oropharyngeal carcinoma were chosen by a focus group of head and neck oncologists. A pilot survey was developed in an online platform, and feedback from extramural head and neck oncologists was used to refine it for institutional review board submission and formal deployment. Respondents were surgical, radiation, and medical oncologists with experience in treating oropharyngeal carcinoma. One hundred five responses were analyzed, of which 67% were from providers with >10 years in practice and 79% were from providers who treat >15 new oropharyngeal carcinoma patients per year.

A particular overall chemoradiation toxicity class is accounted for by two adjoining distress levels (>90% occurrence) for both short-term and long-term outcomes. Providers deemed mucositis and nausea, and pain and xerostomia the most distressing short-term and long-term toxicities, respectively. Providers were split as to their impression of the relative importance that patients place on short-term versus long-term outcomes when considering treatment options.

A clinical tool to represent overall chemoradiation toxicity considering short-term and long-term outcomes has been developed by analyzing provider-centric responses to a realistic clinical scenario. Results from this pilot study enhance patient counseling and shared decision making, and serve as foundational information for a prospective, longitudinal patient-centric observational study.