ReviewCancers2023
Quality of Life and Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Proton Therapy for Oropharyngeal Carcinoma: A Systematic Review.
Review in Cancers, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predictors of survival among head and neck cancer patients after radiotherapy based on health-related quality of life indices and symptoms-specific outcomes: a systematic review.Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2025Pooled it
- Clinical significance of NT-proBNP as a predictive biomarker of depressive symptoms in cardiac patients.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Assessment and Prediction of Salivary Gland Function After Head and Neck Radiotherapy: A Systematic Review.Cancer medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Fatigue following head and neck cancer radiotherapy: a systematic review of dose correlates.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Pooled it
- Relationship between carotid intima-media thickness and white matter hyperintensities in non-stroke adults: a systematic review.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2024Pooled it
- Longitudinal bilateral parotid delta-radiomic kinetics and variance signatures for prediction of late xerostomia following radiotherapy.BMC medical imaging · 2026Article
- Risk Factors for Catastrophic Health Events in Head and Neck Cancer: A Scoping Review to Inform Risk Prediction.Cancers · 2026Review
- SHAP-based interpretable machine learning with longitudinal delta-radiomics across seven weeks of treatment for xerostomia prediction in head-and-neck cancer.Radiation oncology (London, England) · 2026Article
- The Importance of Dental Treatment in Patients Before Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy, and Cardiac Surgeries: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Radiation techniques and advancements in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Oral oncology · 2024Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundComplex anatomy surrounding the oropharynx makes proton therapy (PT), especially intensity-modulated PT (IMPT), a potentially attractive option due to its ability to reduce the volume of irradiated healthy tissues. Dosimetric improvement may not translate to clinically relevant benefits. As outcome data are emerging, we aimed to evaluate the evidence of the quality of life (QOL) and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) following PT for oropharyngeal carcinoma (OC). MATERIALS AND
methodsWe searched PubMed and Scopus electronic databases (date: 15 February 2023) to identify original studies on QOL and PROs following PT for OC. We employed a fluid strategy in the search strategy by tracking citations of the initially selected studies. Reports were extracted for information on demographics, main results, and clinical and dose factor correlates. Quality assessment was performed using the NIH's Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. The PRISMA guidelines were followed in the preparation of this report.
resultsSeven reports were selected, including one from a recently published paper captured from citation tracking. Five compared PT and photon-based therapy, although none were randomized controlled trials. Most endpoints with significant differences favored PT, including xerostomia, cough, need for nutritional supplements, dysgeusia, food taste, appetite, and general symptoms. However, some endpoints favored photon-based therapy (sexual symptoms) or showed no significant difference (e.g., fatigue, pain, sleep, mouth sores). The PROs and QOL improve following PT but do not appear to return to baseline.
conclusionEvidence suggests that PT causes less QOL and PRO deterioration than photon-based therapy. Biases due to the non-randomized study design remain obstacles to a firm conclusion. Whether or not PT is cost-effective should be the subject of further investigation.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.