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Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Nerve Excitability Assessment in Chemotherapy-induced Neurotoxicity
Published on: April 26, 2012
Neurologic sequelae following radiation with and without chemotherapy for oropharyngeal cancer: Patient reported
Adam S Garden1, Mona Kamal1,2, Abdallah S R Mohamed1,3
1Department of Radiation Oncology, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Background:
There is little data describing neurocognitive late sequelae in patients treated for oropharyngeal cancer.
Methods:
Using PROs, scores for "numbness/tingling" and "difficulty remembering" were assessed. Wilcoxon testing was utilized to compare mean assessment scores (1-10) between treatment subgroups.
Results:
Four-hundred ninety-seven patients were evaluated and 267 (54%) received chemotherapy. The mean score for numbness/tingling for patients receiving radiation alone was 0.99 and for each chemotherapy subgroup were: Induction chemotherapy (IC), 1.35 (n = 99); concurrent chemotherapy (CCRT), 1.04 (n = 111) and IC + CCRT, 2.48 (n = 57); 30% of patients who received IC + CCRT had scores ≥5. The mean scores for difficulty remembering were XRT: 1.44, chemotherapy: 1.45, and IC + CCRT subgroup: 2.42.
Conclusions:
The symptom burden related to peripheral neuropathy and cognitive complaints was minimal. A minority of patients reported high burdens. Particularly, 30% of patients receiving IC + CCRT described moderate to severe numbness/tingling.
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