Patient Reported Outcomes of Split Thickness Skin Grafts For Floor of
Mouth Cancer Reconstruction
Abstract
Objectives To establish patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) on
quality of life (QOL) for early stage floor of mouth carcinoma (FOM-CA)
undergoing surgical resection and split thickness skin graft (STSG)
reconstruction. Design Retrospective analysis with a validated
questionnaire Setting Tertiary academic cancer center Participants
Patients with pathologic stage T1/T2 FOM-CA who underwent resection and
STSG reconstruction Main Outcome Measures University of Washington QOL
(v4) questionnaire completed after at least 6 months since surgery
Results 24 out of 49 eligible patients completed questionnaires with a
mean follow up of 41 months (range: 6-88). Subsites of tumor
involvement/resection included: 1) lateral FOM (L-FOM) (n = 17), 2)
anterior FOM (A-FOM) (n = 4), and 3) alveolar ridge with FOM, all of
whom underwent lateral marginal mandibulectomy (MM-FOM) (n = 3). All
patients reported swallowing scores of 70 or better (“I cannot swallow
certain solid foods”). 96% (23/24) reported speech of 70 or better
(“difficulty saying some words, but I can be understood over the
phone”). A-FOM patients reported worse chewing than L-FOM patients
(mean: 50.0 vs. 85.3; p = 0.01). All four A-FOM patients reported a low
chewing score of 50 (“I can eat soft solids but cannot chew some
foods”). Otherwise, there were no significant differences between
subsite groups in swallowing, speech, or taste. Conclusions STSG
reconstructions for pathologic T1-T2 FOM-CA appear to result in
reasonably high PROM QOL outcomes with the exception of A-FOM tumors
having worse chewing outcomes.